45 Crosby Street

In 1978, a ragtag band of artist residents of Soho's 45 Crosby Street won what the New York Times called "an impressive victory." The city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development had granted the former industrial building's title to its residents in exchange for merely the "sweat equity" of getting it up to code (estimated cost: $164,000), making it the city's first loft building exclusively set aside for low-income artists. Now, a 2,100-square-foot loft co-op in the building, which has been home to artists ever since, is asking $3 million.
Times change, the loft remains a classic