Chelsea

The English muffin has a pretty notable history in New York City. In 1874, Samuel Bath Thomas–yes, that Thomas–left England to sell English muffins to the New York masses, and his recipe was a hit. For a long time, he baked underneath the Chelsea townhouse at 337 West 20th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues, which you can read all about here. But before he baked there, he got his start at another Chelsea building, at 161 9th Avenue. This very first New York bakery of his is now the site of the two-bedroom co-op on the market for $2.195 million. It's a cool duplex space with an even cooler private garden.
See the whole place

Distinctive Homes

October 15, 2015

For $1.5M, a Neon Yellow Spiral Staircase and Private Roof Deck in a Chelsea Modernist Gem

We don't know the exact size of this Chelsea duplex-plus-roof-deck penthouse at 365 West 19th Street, but it's configured as a one-bedroom with office space, and from the floor plan there's not much extra room to spare. That said, the spaces that have been created in this out-of-the-box home are as easy on the eyes as they'd be to live in. And its price tag of $1.5 million—especially given its prime location and architectural uniqueness—seems almost reasonable.
Explore all three levels, this way

Distinctive Homes

October 9, 2015

REVEALED: Chelsea Atelier’s Mixed-Use High Line Development With Viewing Decks

Another forward-looking project may be coming to the banks of the High Line, this time for a T-shaped lot near the corner of Tenth Avenue and West 17th Street. While still in its conceptual stage, the design of 455 West 17th Street is being handled by architecture and project management firm Chelsea Atelier. The two-wing project consists of a four-story Tenth Avenue wing, to contain a small hotel or offices, and a larger 11-story wing that would house residential condominiums. Amir Shouri, senior designer at Chelsea Atelier, says the design seeks to create viewing decks to capture glimpses of the High Line and the Hudson River. The blurred boundaries between inside and out will ceaselessly showcase the "live urban activity of the High Line during the day and motivate inhabitants to go out an enjoy the area's many amenities."
More details this way

October 8, 2015

There’s an Historic English Muffin Oven Hiding Underneath This Chelsea Co-op

Although the popular song would have you believe that the muffin man lives on Drury Lane, he actually has digs right here in Chelsea on West 20th Street. 337 West 20th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues, is a nondescript, four-story brick building that is officially known as "The Muffin House." Looking at the building from outside, you wouldn't think there's anything special to it. But underground, preserved below what is now a modest co-op complex, there's a massive bakery oven. And not just any old oven, although that discovery is unique in and of itself. This is the oven once operated by a very well-known baker, the one responsible for introducing English muffins to the United States.
His name was Samuel Bath Thomas

October 6, 2015

Academy Award-Nominated Director Jason Reitman Sells His Classy Chelsea Home for $3M

By Annie Doge

The fate of Jason Reitman's Chelsea pad is no longer up in the air. After just 32 days on the market, the director/producer/screenwriter, best known for the beloved indie flick "Juno," as well as well as the aforementioned pun starring George Clooney, has sold for $3.05 million. As noted by the Observer, the 1,600-square-foot space at 434 West 20th Street was purchased by Reitman with his then-wife Michelle Lee back in 2011 for $2.15 million, with the pair said to be drawn in by the home's prewar detailing and its location just across from the New York Seminary's gorgeous gardens.
More photos inside the beautiful apartment

October 6, 2015

$4M Chelsea Loft Boasts Tons of Stylish Space Inside and Out

This Chelsea co-op, located at 139 West 19th Street, has got lots of things going for it: it's super stylish, has some great interior details, there's an expansive living room along with two full bedrooms and bathrooms, and it has a huge backyard that will incite envy. It's also located in a charming central location on 19th Street between 6th and 7th avenues. The cost for all this good stuff comes in at $3.895 million.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

October 2, 2015

Zaha Hadid Launches Sales at Her High Line Condos, Talks the Evolution of NY Architecture

Related Companies has officially launched sales for their highly-anticipated upcoming condominium, 520 West 28th Street. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect and artist Zaha Hadid, the eleven-story building will be Hadid's first ground-up structure in New York and will offer 39 distinctive two- to five-bedroom homes priced from $4,950,000 to $50 million for the largest penthouse. The under construction building, now five-stories up, rises alongside the High Line elevated park from an L-shaped parcel between West 27th and 28th Streets in the center of West Chelsea's art gallery district. Related Companies purchased the site for $65 million in 2012 and soon after commissioned the Iraqi-British designer, who beat out the likes of fellow Brit, Norman Foster. Yesterday, at the development's launch, Hadid said she has "always been fascinated by the High Line and its possibilities for the city. "
More from the event here

October 2, 2015

Unleash Your Inner Iron Chef at Bobby Flay’s $8M Chelsea Duplex

By Annie Doge

After a very public divorce from "Law & Order: SVU" star Stephanie March, famed chef and television personality Bobby Flay is unloading his duplex at the Chelsea Mercantile, which very appropriately has a Whole Foods in the building (you might remember Katie Holmes getting her own private entrance to the store when she lived here). As Curbed notes, the $7.95 million sprawling duplex's listing touts its "spectacular open kitchen designed with and for a PROFESSIONAL CHEF." Flay reportedly got the apartment, as well as the former couple's Amangansett home, as part of the divorce settlement, but now it's time for another chef to sharpen their knives in the pad.
Look around the place here

September 18, 2015

SHoP Architects Are Bringing a Wooden Condo Building to Chelsea

By Dana Schulz

In March, an Austrian architecture firm announced plans to build the world's tallest wooden skyscraper in Vienna. They noted that by using wood as opposed to concrete they'd save 3,086 tons of CO2 emissions. Then, a study showed that timber buildings actually cost less to build. These benefits really must have stuck with SHoP Architects, who are developing plans for a ten-story residential building in Chelsea, overlooking the High Line at 475 West 18th Street, that will be made entirely of wood, according to the Wall Street Journal. SHoP's project came via a competition hosted by the United States Department of Agriculture, in partnership with the Softwood Lumber Board and the Binational Softwood Lumber Council, that asked architecture firms to design buildings at least 80 feet tall that employed wood construction technologies. SHoP's design, dubbed 475 West, won the competition along with a 12-story building in Portland. The firms will split a $3 million prize to "embark on the exploratory phase of their projects, including the research and development necessary to utilize engineered wood products in high-rise construction."
More on the project here

September 17, 2015

This Nomad Loft Was Created With Curbside Finds, Elbow Grease and an Eye for Beauty

There was a time in NYC when there wasn't an expectation that an apartment or loft come with a full set of shiny new appliances and amenities; you could carve out a space for yourself over time, and end up with a beautiful, unique and comfortable home. That's about the time–1977, to be exact–when the owners of this cool and crafty Nomad loft, then a recent co-op conversion, bought it for $50,000 and moved in. Now this large two-bedroom 12th floor loft with a private terrace is on the rental market for $8,000 a month. The owners–she was an art historian who passed away about a year ago, he's a retired biophysicist–and their daughter had always been fond of the excitement of scavenging what others left behind–like a six-burner restaurant stove and what is now a veritable jungle of plants. The building had been used for light manufacturing, and the couple had to design the entire 1,620-square-foot space to make it a home. Since the space was completely raw, they could configure it any way they pleased. The loft was featured in a 2006 article in the Times, in which the home's late owner and main design force is described as having "a gimlet eye for the gorgeous."
Take a look around, this way...

September 14, 2015

Carriage House Apartment in Chelsea With Lush Landscaped Roof Wants $1.3 Million

We know every broker uses the word "charming" to describe their listing, but this co-op apartment at 337 West 20th Street, in Chelsea, really is. It is located in the Muffin House, a building where the Thomas family originally baked English muffins in the late 1800s. Now it's a co-op, located on a lovely and quiet residential block, that has eleven units, three of which are in the carriage house. The co-op also boasts an interior cobblestone courtyard, lined with hydrangeas, that leads back to this tucked-away carriage house apartment. Are you charmed yet?
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September 11, 2015

Behold the City Skyline From a Room of Curved Glass Atop This $12.5M Chelsea Penthouse

We're fairly certain that if you look in the dictionary under "cool modern Chelsea penthouse," there's a picture of this apartment–because this duplex co-op at 143 West 20th Street pretty much nails the concept. Though there are certainly pricier pads, at over $12M, this four-bedroom stunner would certainly be someone's idea of a trophy–and it lives up to the job. Beginning on the 12th floor of an historic 1910 loft building at the classic Manhattan neighborhood's heart, the apartment's design treads the line between high-end generic contemporary and an attempt at hat-tipping the modernism of earlier decades via sleek minimal luxe. The listing says, "...one needs to walk through the space to experience it fully." But the pictures definitely get our attention with what looks a lot like a modern art museum that would be fun to live in.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

Village Green West, Alfa Development’s Chelsea Condominium, Nears Completion

Rendering via Alfa Development and Kutnicki Bernstein Architects (L); Current construction shot via CityRealty (R)

September 3, 2015

Village Green West, Alfa Development’s Chelsea Condominium, Nears Completion

The finishing touches are being applied to Alfa Development's environmentally sensitive and industrially evocative condominium Village Green West. According to CityRealty, only two if its 27 units are are currently up for grabs, with at least 18 already in contract. Alfa's 12-story mid-block building is centrally positioned at 245 West 14th Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues at the crossroads of Chelsea, the West Village, and the Meatpacking District. The Michael Namer-led development team purchased the 5,200-square-foot development site in 2012 for $14.65 million.
More details on the project here

September 2, 2015

Find Historic Brownstone Warmth and Manhattan Convenience at This Chelsea Duplex Rental

It's hard to resist historic brownstone interiors with their high ceilings, graceful plaster molding and tall townhouse windows. Living on two floors of a townhouse feels pretty much like you've got a whole house to yourselves. Throw in a wood-burning fireplace–and, even better, a tasteful renovation–and we can't imagine a better place to settle in and get ready for winter. Just one flight up, this gorgeous three-bedroom duplex at 322 West 20th Street is on the rental market for $9,800 a month; at 1,800 square feet, it's not house-sized, but it beats the average Manhattan apartment by a city mile–and many a sleek downtown duplex rents for as much or more.
Take a look inside this pretty brownstone apartment

Distinctive Homes

September 1, 2015

For $725K This One-Bedroom Chelsea Jewel-Box Is a Just-Right Downtown Dream

On a postcard-perfect tree-lined West Chelsea street, tucked among elegant, historic apartment buildings, this one-bedroom garden co-op at 433 West 24th Street has just what it takes to recharge and take refuge from the surrounding kaleidoscope of New York City life. The listing for this funky and fabulous flat offers no floor plan or square footage, but rooms appear well-designed to take advantage of the available living space–and look good doing it.
Tour the apartment here

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New Renderings Revealed for Garden-Topped High Line Jardim Condos

Renderings via New York YIMBY.

August 24, 2015

New Renderings Revealed for Garden-Topped High Line Jardim Condos

A new full set of renderings has surfaced from New York YIMBY revealing designs for the West Chelsea condominium project at 527 West 27th Street known as Jardim. The High Line-adjacent project, designed by Brazilian architect Isay Weinfeld, is being developed by Centaur Properties and Greyscale Development Group.
See the latest renderings

August 18, 2015

New 15-Story Passive House Condo May Be Coming to 128 West 23rd Street

A new residential building may be coming to West 23rd Street next to Citizen condos. While no new building or demolition permits have been filed for the parcel, an eco-friendly design penned by Sven Peters in collaboration with VUW Studio / CastDesignStudios visualizes the site's full zoning potential. Their 15-story conceptual design targets the "high-end, enviro-hedonist buyer," yielding a 25,000-square-foot building with 15 full-floor loft residences and ground-level commercial space. Their website notes that the project will be designed under the German Passivhaus environmental standards and will incorporate the latest advancements in energy recovery, infiltration mitigation, and air purification.
More details ahead

August 14, 2015

Construction Kicks Off at Morris Adjmi’s 540 West 26th Street, New Renderings Revealed

Construction has kicked off on a sleek, nine-story commercial and gallery building in the heart of West Chelsea's gallery district. It's being developed by Savanna Fund, the Manhattes Group, and the Silvermintz family. Located just half a block from the High Line, the 145,000- square-foot, 159-foot-tall project at 540 West 26th Street replaces a parking lot and a two-story commercial building once home to the Lehmann Maupin Gallery. The building's straitlaced design, penned by Morris Adjmi Architects, is massed in two tiers and adorned with a repeating grid of factory-sash, floor-to-ceiling windows. Adjmi's site notes that the facade's "bead-blasted aluminum frame" is a nod to the district's robust industrial character. Furthermore, the interiors will be detailed with blackened steel, finished concrete, and salvaged wood. The lower level will house gallery spaces, while the floors above will provide full-floor commercial offices with generous floor-to-ceiling heights. The setback of the upper two floors allow for a spacious landscaped terrace with views of the Hudson River.
More on the project right this way

August 4, 2015

The New Design Project’s Chelsea Duplex Reno Was Inspired by a Blissful Color Palette

Steps to a successful renovation? Pick an awesome color palette and then work with what you've got. That was the plan behind The New Design Project's renovation for this Chelsea duplex. "With a blissful color palette and a seamless mix of statement pieces, graphic artwork and ethnic accessories, this Chelsea duplex apartment oozes sophistication and elegance," the firm explains. These guys are no strangers to NYC spaces–they perfected a modern aesthetic in this West Village townhouse and this 400-square-foot Uptown apartment. Here, they worked with good apartment bones–high ceilings and natural light–to create a calm, simplified, modern space.
See more of the finished product

August 3, 2015

First Look at Toll Brothers’ Chelsea Condo Designed by Morris Adjmi

Here's our first glimpse at Toll Brothers' under-construction condominium rising at 55 West 17th Street in Chelsea. Morris Adjmi is the building's architect, which is not surprising given his track record crafting sensitive designs for the city's historical areas. The miniscule rendering displayed on the developer's website illustrates a quiet and dignified facade composed of large square-ish windows and soft gray cladding. The project's teaser site was recently launched, and marketing materials describe the 55-unit building as "distinctively modern, classically detailed condominiums in Chelsea."
More details here

July 28, 2015

Where to Find the NYC Haunts and Houses of Famous Writers

By Jason Carpenter

New York City has always been a hub for writers. Whether they were living in luxury or getting their start as starving artists, famous writers have lived and worked all across New York, and you can still see many of these writerly abodes today. Whether you're a fan of the Beat Generation, Sci-Fi, or even Southern Gothic, you might be interested in tracking down a famous writer's home.
See where writers lived and worked here

July 27, 2015

Entertain on Three Levels in This $2.5M Modern Chelsea Loft

While most lofts offer a spacious open interior, this recently-listed $2.5 million Chelsea triplex extends vertically as well; a stylish recent renovation gets creative with windows and skylights to maximize light flow throughout all three floors. The 1,797-square-foot, two-bedroom condo at 251 West 19th Street–known as Chelsea 19, the classic loft building was built in 1910 and converted to condos in 2002–is just the spot for a three-story soiree (or a well-divided live-and-work space).
Check out all three floors...

Distinctive Homes

July 22, 2015

New Renderings of 435 West 19th Street, Condo with Private Pools and a Sky Garage