December 23, 2016

This darling prewar apartment asks $535K in the East Village

This one-bedroom apartment is being marketed as both charming and quiet, located at the prewar cooperative 315 East 12th Street in the East Village. You're not getting tons of square feet but it's just enough for a first-time buyer who can afford the price tag of $535,000. This unit's asking price has been creeping up over the years: it was asking $249,000 back in 2006 and then $449,999 in 2008.
Look around
December 23, 2016

New Yorkers love ‘It’s a Wonderful Life:’ Mapping every state’s favorite holiday movie

New Yorkers tend to be a distinct mix of cynicism and optimism, so it's not surprising that our favorite holiday movie is "It's a Wonderful Life," the classic Christmas tale of George Bailey being saved from his suicidal state by a guardian angel who helps him see the positive impact he's had in his life. This data comes from CableTV's fun map of every state's favorite holiday movie, which they arrived at by cross referencing AMC's top-rated holiday movies with state data over the past decade from Google Trends.
See the full map and find out the country's top pick
December 23, 2016

‘Subway Therapy’ gets a book deal; a NYC Santa reveals his identity

Not only will the “Subway Therapy” Post-Its will be preserved in an exhibit at the New-York Historical Society, but they’ll also be made into a book. [Gothamist] Watch how subway cars get loaded onto the tracks. [Business Insider] Bill Ackman bought the $91.5 million penthouse at One57 in hopes of flipping it, but his plans may be changing now that […]

December 23, 2016

Did you know ‘The Night Before Christmas’ was written in New York’s Chelsea?

This may be hard to imagine, but one of the holiday's most iconic stories was written in none other than Manhattan's Chelsea. Ephemeral NY recounts the origins of Clement Clarke Moore's quintessential Christmas tale, "The Night Before Christmas," and points to early 19th century life in New York as the inspiration for the classic. As the story goes, the year was 1822, and Moore was said to have come up with the poem on a snowy day while riding around Chelsea in a sleigh, on his way to pick up a turkey from the market.
find out more here
December 23, 2016

‘True Blood’ star Alexander Skarsgård eyes East Village synagogue penthouse

Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård, of "True Blood" and "Tarzan" fame, may be sinking his teeth into a swanky new East Village pad. The Post reports that he was seen checking out the duplex penthouse at 415 East 6th Street, the Meseritz Synagogue condo conversion. The apartment isn't publicly on the market, but it's still vacant and was last listed for $4.39 million.
See the pad
December 23, 2016

Get an advance preview of the Second Avenue Subway’s 96th Street station TODAY

If you can't wait until January 1st to scope out the new Second Avenue Subway line, today Governor Cuomo is holding an "open house" from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the 96th Street station. Cuomo debuted the station yesterday afternoon at a press event in advance of the official New Year's Day opening, offering select New Yorkers a glimpse at the completed work. The open house is the first time the greater public will have access to the Second Avenue Subway since the start of construction.
more details this way
December 23, 2016

Rent the East Village party pad where Bret Easton Ellis wrote ‘American Psycho’

The East Village loft owned by novelist and literary bad boy Bret Easton Ellis is available for rent for $5,900 per month. Ellis has been renting out the studio apartment since he decamped for Los Angeles a decade ago; he told the Observer he's been holding on to the 950-square-foot, second-floor condo in the American Felt Building at 114 East 13th Street as a back-up plan, "if Los Angeles just doesn’t work out." The "American Psycho" scribe says he spent the late '80s living in the lofty studio–in his early 20s at the time–writing the iconic 1991 novel of late 20th century privilege, materialism and delusion and throwing massive Holly Golightly-esque bashes packed with his contemporaries back in the day in an East Village very different from today's.
Check it out
December 22, 2016

Chloe Sevigny’s glamorous $2.75M Park Slope co-op goes into contract

Just 42 days after it hit the market for $2.75 million, and a mere two days since 6sqft and other media outlets reported on it, Chloe Sevigny's Park Slope co-op has gone into contract, a tipster tells us. The Indie actress bought the pre-war spread at 9 Prospect Park West for $2,053,000 in 2013, after which she completed a renovation that created a chic space with "a sophisticated mix of classic furniture and interesting artwork."
See the whole place
December 22, 2016

42 new affordable condos available at West Harlem’s Parkadon, from $225K

Qualifying New Yorkers can now apply to purchase one of 42 affordable condos in West Harlem's Parkadon Condominiums. Currently under construction, Harlen Housing Associates has been planning the structure located at 70 West 139th Street for nearly a decade and construction finally commenced on the project in 2015. Although move-in day is still a ways off, the building has topped off and the brick facade is currently being applied. Once finished there will be a total of 64 units (the difference pegged as market-rate) across 55,355 square feet, which includes 1,878 square feet of communal space on the ground floor. The NYC Housing Partnership relays that affordable apartments will range from one- to two-bedrooms priced from $225,545 and $440,381 and will be available to those earning between $50,400 and $149,490.
find out if you qualify
December 22, 2016

Gowanus is now one of NYC’s most expensive neighborhoods

Gowanus doesn’t welcome bargain hunters anymore, it seems. The up-and-coming Brooklyn neighborhood, where the local canal remains a superfund site, has rocketed to spot 14 of the city’s 50 most expensive neighborhoods, according to Property Shark’s final quarterly report for 2016. At this year’s end, the median sales price of homes in Gowanus rose by 68 […]

December 22, 2016

Bloomingdale’s iconic train car restaurant is closing; the USPS has a package-tracking ornament

Le Train Bleu, Bloomingdale’s French bistro modeled after a historic train dining car, will close on December 28th after 37 years. [Untapped] A new app called Shovler will let New Yorkers hire last-minute snow shovelers. [Brick Underground] The U.S. Postal Service made an ornament that changes color based on when a holiday package is out for delivery, […]

December 22, 2016

POLL: Is Governor Cuomo’s plan to get rid of tollbooths a good idea?

In a press release sent out yesterday, Governor Cuomo gave an update on his $500 million overhaul of NYC's bridges' and tunnels' tolling systems. When he first put forth the plan in October, he included flashy renderings of the new cashless collection systems, complete with LED light shows, but his latest announcement tells us that by the end of 2017, old-fashioned tollbooths will be a thing of the past at all MTA-operated bridges and tunnels in the New York metropolitan region.
Is this a good idea?
December 22, 2016

Ghost tunnel under Central Park will reopen along with Second Avenue Subway

There are countless relics from the subway's past hidden beneath NYC, but one of the most intriguing will reveal itself again in just 9 days when the Second Avenue Subway (SAS) invites straphangers to swipe their Metro cards for the first time. As Quartz noticed this past summer, a peculiar loop cutting through Central Park appeared when the MTA released their new subway map touting the addition of the SAS. Reporter Mike Murphy immediately questioned the mysterious addition that would move the Q train further north without issue ("I felt like people would have noticed if the MTA had been ripping up Central Park to build a tunnel," he wrote). After a bit of digging, he found out the half-mile stretch was built over 40 years ago and, at least according to archival maps, it's only been used twice since then.
find out more
December 22, 2016

Historic upstate farmstead offers a dairy barn, yoga studio, and luxe main house for $2M

This 18th century farmstead, known as Spy Hill, is historic on the outside but has been renovated with modern, luxurious finishes inside. Located upstate in Brewster, New York, it's on the market for $1.95 million, CIRCA tell us. There's the main house, decked out with fireplaces, a large outdoor terrace with a covered veranda, as well as a guest house, three-level dairy barn, workshop, yoga studio, green house and heated in-ground pool and spa, all over four acres. Talk about an impressive property.
Now take the tour
December 22, 2016

Apply for 59 affordable apartments throughout the South Bronx, starting at $822/month

Starting tomorrow, qualifying New Yorkers can apply for 59 newly renovated, affordable apartments throughout the South Bronx. Spread across six addresses (1171 Clay Avenue, 1183 Clay Avenue, 1202 Clay Avenue, 384 Grand Concourse, 1129 Morrison Avenue and 1038 Rogers Place), the units are all nearby in the Grand Concourse, Soundview, Foxhurst, and Mott Haven neighborhoods. The availabilities are for those earning 100, 60, and 50 percent of the area media income, ranging from $822/month studios to $1,875/month three-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify
December 22, 2016

Live in one of Manhattan’s rare rooftop cabins for $4,200 a month

Here's another tiny, pricey top-floor studio calling itself a "penthouse" in a buzzy downtown Manhattan neighborhood. Except this particular diminutive dwelling really is one-(or maybe two- or three-) of-a-kind in the city: It’s a rooftop cabin. Curbed calls it "NYC's most unusual rental." Every so often we get a chance to marvel at these quirky homesteads perched atop otherwise ordinary apartment buildings, and we don’t know whether we’d be thrilled to bits every morning to wake up in a country cabin on a city rooftop, or if we’d be totally over it. Let’s go with thrilled to bits–and take a closer look at this unusual aerie at 15 West 28th Street, asking $4,200 in monthly rent.
It's a cabin on the roof. How cool is that?
December 21, 2016

Live/work loft with an eight-foot wall of windows asks $4,950/month in Midtown West

This Midtown West condo, at 448 West 37th Street, is known as the Glass Farmhouse—and this live/work loft is certainly glassy. The completely open, 1,550-square-foot pad has 13-foot, beamed ceilings, with eight feet of windows underneath. And all that space, the listing suggests, "allows endless possibilities for decoration and setup as you want." Although the building is a condo, this one is up on the rental market for nearly $5,000 a month.
Check it out
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December 21, 2016

Great gifts for transportation buffs and NYC subway nerds

It was a tough year for straphangers—an impending L train closure, subway slashings and bug pranks gone wrong. But there were also bright spots, including the promise of new trains and buses, the return of the W line and the announcement of an on-time opening for the Second Avenue subway. Whatever your feelings about the MTA, […]

December 21, 2016

Fairway emerges from bankruptcy with new Bergen Beach store; Meet the half Christmas tree

Pacific Park’s 461 Dean Street, the world’s tallest modular tower, is offering a market-rate studio for $2,134/month. This is less than the affordable units at nearby 535 Charlton Street. [Atlantic Yards Report] Recovering from filing for bankruptcy over the summer, Fairway will soon open its second Brooklyn store in Bergen Beach. [Brooklyn Eagle] With Christmas just around the […]

December 21, 2016

VIDEO: Neil Patrick Harris gives a holiday tour of his Harlem brownstone

Neil Patrick Harris and hubby David Burtka first made real estate headlines when they purchased a $4 million Harlem brownstone in 2013, setting a neighborhood record. They then spent over a year renovating the five-story residence at 2036 Fifth Avenue to be the perfect family home for their twins Gideon and Harper (now five years old) and two dogs. Last year, the couple invited Architectural Digest in for a tour, showing off their elegant but fun design choices, impressive art collection, and restored architectural features. They've now opened up their home again, this time for Vogue's 73 Questions (h/t Apartment Therapy), complete with Christmas decorations.
Watch the video here
December 21, 2016

The Urban Lens: Visiting Gramercy’s Pete’s Tavern, where O. Henry penned ‘The Gift of the Magi’

6sqft’s ongoing series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, award-winning photographers James and Karla Murray return with a look inside Pete's Tavern, a Gramercy favorite with beautiful holiday decorations and an interesting historical connection to Christmas. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Pete's Tavern lays claim to being NYC's oldest continuously operating bar and restaurant. Established in 1864, it's become famous for the fact that O. Henry is said to have written the classic short Christmas story "The Gift of the Magi" while dining and drinking here. We recently visited Pete's to photograph its lovely holiday decorations and to chat with restaurateur Gary Egan and manager A.C. about the establishment's unique history, connection to O. Henry, and time as a speakeasy during Prohibition.
All the photos and the interview
December 21, 2016

Interactive map reveals the shadows cast by every New York City building

The Times calls the phenomenon a "struggle for light and air." And indeed, while New York City architecture is lauded for both its design and innovation, the decades-long race to build bigger and taller has taken a toll on the cityscape, particularly in the form of shadows. While any recent criticism of the effect has been directed towards the towers rising along Billionaire's Row, as The Upshot's map reveals, New Yorkers on the whole spend a lot of their time cutting through long stretches of shadow. The map documents thousands of buildings across the five boroughs, denoting age, height and the resulting shadows cast at ground level over the course of one day, down to the minute, during all seasons. As seen above, tall-tower haven Central Park South is cloaked in darkness 24/7 during the fall, winter, spring and summer months—but then again, if you peruse the map, you'll see a lot of other blocks are too.
find out more
December 21, 2016

First look at the artsy common spaces of 5Pointz-replacing rental towers

It's been three years since Long Island City's beloved graffiti mecca 5Pointz was whitewashed overnight and a year and a half since renderings first surfaced of the bland 41- and 47-story rental towers that would replace the site at 22-44 Jackson Avenue. Despite a perceived lack of respect towards the artistic community, G&M Realty’s David Wolkoff eventually said he planned to set aside 20 artists’ studios and displays to make up for those lost at 5Pointz, and it looks like he's making good on his word. HTO Architect, who designed the towers, initially put forth views of a large public park and rotating mural exhibit that would fill the space between the buildings, and now 6sqft has uncovered renderings from Mojo Stumer of the artsy entryway, lobby and pool, which reveal the graffiti-inspired logo for the project.
See it all right here
December 21, 2016

Mystery investor buys Donald Trump’s childhood home in hopes of flipping it

Hoping to cash in on Trump-mania, an anonymous New York investor scooped up the President Elect's childhood home in Jamaica Estates, Queens in the hopes of bringing it to auction next month and turning a profit. Mansion Global got the news from auctioneers Paramount Realty USA, who say the bidding will take place on January 17th. Previous reports have estimated that the six-bedroom, Tudor-style home that Trump's father Fred built could fetch up to ten times its most recent $1.2 million ask, or a whopping $10 million.
Get the full scoop
December 21, 2016

Parlor floor pad offers brownstone beauty without the beastly mortgage at $4,300/month

Even when it's tucked into a postcard-pretty brick townhouse, it's unusual for a rental apartment to look like a longtime home. This two-bedroom parlor-floor unit at 155 Luquer Street  in Carroll Gardens is about as welcoming as we've seen in a while. The home is 25 feet wide–standard townhouse width is 20 feet–which helps, and big rooms and blond wood add to the pretty picture.
Check out the rest of the space
December 20, 2016

Chloe Sevigny lists chic Park Slope co-op for $2.75M

After selling her East Village garden apartment for $1.76 million in 2013 (the area had become too much like a frat house for her liking), indie darling Chloë Sevigny moved to Park Slope, which she chose, as Brownstoner notes, to avoid "hip" Brooklyn in favor of the "dorkiest, hokiest neighborhood." She paid $2,053,000 for a pre-war co-op at 9 Prospect Park West, modernizing the home with an updated kitchen, cerused oak floors, and a sophisticated mix of classic furniture and interesting artwork. But perhaps the Slope has become too trendy for her as well, as she's listed the home for $2.75 million.
Take a tour
December 20, 2016

Chic Gramercy loft stretching over two floors hits the market for $1.75M

This apartment checks the boxes to qualify as a dreamy loft apartment: two sprawling floors with high ceilings, exposed brick, and floor-to-ceiling windows that lead to some private outdoor space. The pad is located at 215 East 24th Street, also known as the Penny Lane cooperative, in Gramercy Park. For a total of three bedrooms and three bathrooms, it'll cost you $1.75 million. It last sold in 2013 for $1.36 million.
Take a look around
December 20, 2016

Subway passageway reopens as a vestige of the original WTC; One57 apartment sells at $13M discount

A passageway connecting the Chambers Street subway station to the Oculus Transportation Hub has opened for the first time since the 9/11 attacks, and it’s the last remnant of the original World Trade Center. [NYT] A gingerbread village at the Museum of Food and Drink depicts tiny bakeries from different countries, each serving their traditional bread. […]

December 20, 2016

City adds 13,000+ new subway maps ahead of Second Avenue Subway opening

With just 11 days left until the public opening of the Second Avenue Subway, Governor Cuomo has made another show of good faith, announcing that more than 13,000 subway maps featuring the new line have been added throughout the transit system. This includes the installation of 12,600 new in-car maps and 1,000 large station maps in addition to even more maps at Metro-North and LIRR hubs and one million pocket maps that are currently being printed.
READ MORE
December 20, 2016

LaGuardia ranked nation’s worst airport in new study

J.D. Power has just released their 2016 North American Airport Satisfaction Study ranking the nation's airports by customer satisfaction, and New York's LaGuardia Airport has been bestowed the title of the country's worst. According to the study—and just about anyone who's visited LGA in the last few months—construction woes related to Governor Cuomo's $8 billion plan to transform the hub into a world-class airport by 2020 has led to serious headaches for travelers, and a 6-point drop in overall satisfaction from 2015. Last year, LGA ranked as the second worst airport in the U.S., just after Newark International.
See all the rankings here
December 20, 2016

Late fashion designer L’Wren Scott’s Chelsea ‘Sky Garage’ apartment sells for $6.5 million

The Chelsea apartment that had been the home of late fashion designer L’Wren Scott has sold for $6.5 million according to public records. The 3,328-square-foot duplex at the Annabelle Selldorf-designed 200 Eleventh Avenue was listed earlier this year for $8.25 million after Scott’s tragic suicide shocked the fashion world in 2014 (h/t New York Post). Scott, who was Mick Jagger's longtime girlfriend, had purchased the home in 2010 for 5.6 million. The apartment was one of the building's famed Sky Garage units with a car elevator leading to a private 337 square-foot garage adjacent to the apartment.
Celebrity neighbors and a Sky Garage
December 20, 2016

Second Avenue Subway will run with limited service for its first week

If you thought yesterday's news that the Second Avenue Subway would meet its deadline and open on January 1st was too good to be true, you were partially correct. Though service will in fact begin as of the new year, a press release from the Governor's office tells us that for its inaugural week, the line will only run from 6am to 10pm, a blow to late-night commuters and those visiting the city for the holidays.
Find out more
December 20, 2016

Another gorgeous Albemarle Road house hits the market for $2.25M, koi pond included

In June of last year the Albemarle Road buzz reached public ears when Michelle Williams purchased a $2.5 million Colonial Revival mansion on the Prospect Park South Historic District mansion row; in August, 6sqft reported that the extraordinary and storied 23-room mansion across the street at number 1305, listed at a neighborhood record-setting $2.98 million, had entered contract just two hours after it officially hit the market. Now, about five blocks to the west, a lovely and historic seven-bedroom home at 916 Albemarle Road is asking $2.249 million.
Tour the classic home
December 20, 2016

6sqft Designer Gift Guide: 85 ideas curated by NYC creatives

Your holiday shopping companion has arrived! For the second year in a row, 6sqft has asked a handful of New York City designers, architects and artists to share five things they plan of gifting this season (and maybe one they hope to receive). Ahead find 85 truly unique and unexpected items curated by the city's most talented creatives. We promise that there is something for every budget and taste—and plenty of ideas to choose from if you happen to find yourself scrambling for a present at the last minute.
See all their gift picks here
December 19, 2016

Louis C.K. drops $2.45M on another Greenwich Village apartment

Comedian Louis C.K. (real name Louis Székely) already owns four units in a West Village brownstone, but these were joint purchases with his ex-wife, painter Alix Baily. Though they openly maintain a good relationship, he's now ventured out on his own, as the Observer reports that he dropped $2.45 million on a two-bedroom co-op at 101 West 12th Street, a larger apartment building a few blocks away.
Check it out
December 19, 2016

Map highlights the correlation between evictions and rent stabilization loss in NYC

View the map from ProPublica in its interactive form here >> Last year close to 22,000 tenants across the city were evicted from their homes, an issue that the folks at ProPublica trace to a 1994 City Council vote on "vacancy decontrol," which allowed landlords to evade rent regulation and charge market rate for vacated apartments that cost $2,000 or more a month (it's now $2,500). Not only did this incentive rent hikes, but it's led to a major blow to the city's rent stabilized inventory. To show the correlation between evictions and rent regulation, ProPublica has created this interactive map of the more than 450,000 eviction cases filed between January 2013 and June 2015. It shows the number of evictions in a given building (it's shocking how many have had more than 50 in less than three years) and whether or not that building is rent stabilized.
Find out more on the issue
December 19, 2016

Staten Island Ferry ridership hits record high

A record number of people cruised between Lower Manhattan and Saint George this year aboard the Staten Island Ferry, thanks somewhat to a move to have ferries depart every 30 minutes. More than 23 million people rode the ferries, which are free, between July 2015 and this past June, according to statistics from the mayor’s […]

December 19, 2016

Brooklyn’s Morbid Anatomy Museum has closed; $1 happy hour drinks are probably illegal

Unable to raise the $75,000 it needed to stay afloat, Brooklyn’s Morbid Anatomy Museum has shut its doors. [Gothamist] Jared Kushner and his family have an estimated $1.8 billion fortune. [Forbes] Here’s a list for last-minute shoppers of the latest you can order from major retailers for Christmas delivery. [Quartz] Kiss your $1 martini goodbye; the […]

December 19, 2016

First look at the Second Avenue Subway’s $4.5M public art installation

If a sparkling new line isn't cause enough to celebrate, once the Second Avenue Subway opens on January 1st, 2017, millions of New Yorkers will also be treated to several stretches of world-class art while navigating the 96th, 86th, 72nd, and 63rd Street stations. As the Times first reports, the MTA has poured $4.5 million into beautifying the stations with contemporary tile artworks by famed names Chuck Close, Sarah Sze, Vik Muniz, and Jean Shin.
see more here
December 19, 2016

Price halved for an apartment in the building Barbara Walters once lived

This opulent apartment has been patiently waiting to find a buyer. It first hit the market in early 2014 and the price was quietly dropped to $12.5 million by the end of the year. Now, it's back two years later with a reduced ask—by nearly half!—of $6.295 million. This is a four-bedroom, five-bathroom pad with all the elegant bells and whistles at 555 Park Avenue, the prestigious Upper East Side building that Barbara Walters once called home.
Take a look inside
December 19, 2016

Number of Chinese visitors continues to grow as NYC sets new tourism record

For the past decade, the number of Chinese tourists visiting NYC has been on the rise, and of the city's record-breaking 60.3 million visitors in 2016, more than 950,000 were from China. This is a "sevenfold increase since 2007," reports the Times, which notes how the city's tourism department, NYC & Company, is catering to the growing demographic, as they're spending more freely than visitors from Europe who have seen the value of the euro decrease in comparison to the dollar.
Get the scoop
December 19, 2016

The problem with privately owned public spaces (‘POPS’) and how we can improve them

The Atlantic and the New York Times recently exposed the privately owned public spaces (known as “POPS”) in the Trump Tower as being far from “public.” As both journalists demonstrated, most of the Trump Tower public spaces were either cordoned off or non-existent, most notably, the case of the missing bench. A long bench was […]

December 19, 2016

Louise Bourgeois’ son gifts $4M West Village townhouse to Native American tribe

Jean-Louis Goldwater Bourgeois, son of the celebrated sculptor Louise Bourgeois, is transferring the deed for his $4 million West Village townhouse to a non-profit organization run by the Lenape tribe, who were among the original Manhattanites. The 76-year-old architectural historian and activist told the New York Post, “This building is the trophy from major theft." Bourgeois explained his romance with the city and the fact that he feels guilty that he has profited from actions that have appalled him. "The right thing to do is to return it.”
Find out more
December 19, 2016

Second Avenue Subway officially opens to the public January 1, 2017!

Recent weeks have brought conflicting reports of whether or not the Second Avenue Subway would meets its December 31st deadline, but Governor Cuomo has announced that the public will be able to swipe their cards on the new line as of January 1, 2017! The stations will be officially open for business on New Years Eve, at which time the Governor will host a group of dignitaries to celebrate the nearly 100 years-in-the-making project. As the Daily News reports, this also means that there will be no partial opening as previous accounts speculated, and all stations (96th, 86th, and 72nd Streets, along with the transfer point at 63rd Street), entrances, and elevators will be ready to go. "We believe in the team, and that’s why we’re saying we’re going to open Jan. 1. It’s a leap of faith, but I’m willing to take that leap of faith," said Cuomo.
More details ahead
December 18, 2016

Book lovers will swoon over this $915K prewar Morningside Heights co-op

A New Yorker with a big book collection should like this Morningside Heights apartment, which has a room lined with floor-to-ceiling book shelves. Otherwise, the two-bedroom co-op at 611 West 111th Street has all sorts of prewar charm, like parquet floors, moldings and a bay window. The pad last sold in 2010 for $790,000 and it just hit the market yesterday with an ask of $915,000.
Go inside
December 17, 2016

Weekly highlights: Top picks from the 6sqft staff

Ivanka Trump puts her stodgy Park Avenue pad up for sale, asks $4.1M Interactive map reveals the income gap that divides NYC’s richest and poorest Own the incredible Arts and Crafts home where Milton Glaser designed the ‘I ♥ NY’ logo 104 years ago, the nation’s first public Christmas tree went up in Madison Square […]

December 16, 2016

A horrifying blaze swept through Lower Manhattan 181 years ago today

It's hard to envision blocks and blocks of Lower Manhattan being destroyed by a raging fire, but that's exactly what happened there 181 years ago to the day, December 16th, 1835. That year marks one of New York's most traumatic fires in history, known as the Great Fire of 1835. It came at a time the city was developing rapidly, with the arrival of new businesses, railroad terminals, and people. But there were also major concerns that came with the city's boom: there was a lack of a reliable water source for the city, and there were not enough fire departments to keep everyone safe. And so the forces collided into a traumatic fire that would change the course of New York's development significantly.
Keep reading for more

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