Greatest Real Estate Finds

[BSR]

15 hours ago, Unicorn said:

You're right. Still lower proportionally in NYC, but that's more sensible. My error!

By the way, NYC does not assess property taxes at a fixed percentage of the property's value.  Different types of property get assessed at different rates.  For example, single-family homes (townhouses or brownstones) are assessed at a lower rate per square foot than condos.  Even units in the same building get assessed at different percentages.  A small 2-bedroom on a lower floor in Central Park Tower is assessed at 0.81% of the condo's value ($59,616 on a $7.35 million apartment) whereas the triplex penthouse is a "bargain" at just 0.23% ($572,232 on $250 million).  Maybe a long-time New Yorker can explain the crazy system 'cuz I sure as heck can't. 

True, Californians pay a much higher rate initially, but you also have Proposition 13.  NYC does have a cap on the percentage increase of your property tax, but it's much higher -- 6% in 1 year, 20% in 5 years.

[Guest]

Wow. Pretty incredible. Incredibly regressive. Those living in small units actually pay a far lower rate than someone living in a single-family home. In my view, once someone buys a home, the increase in taxes should be capped at the rate of inflation/CPI, unless passed by voters. I have neighbors who've lived in their house for decades. They're probably paying 1/20th the taxes I pay.

[samhexum]

Would @mike carey fight this hard for his homestead? 

A family in Australia has remained defiant in selling their nearly 5-acre property in the last few years as developers have been forced to build around them.

Most recently, they declined a whopping $50 million offer for their home, according to local outlet, 7News.

Slap bang in the middle of a new-build development in The Ponds area near the city of Quakers Hill, the Zammits have indicated they cannot put a price on their beloved home.

It’s a stark contrast to the adjacent rows of newly constructed houses that surround their longtime property.

Their neighbors have praised their resilience as they enjoy the cul-de-sacs that this in-the-middle property creates by staying put, rather than having a typical through street.

“The fact that most people sold out years and years ago, these guys have held on. All credit to them,” Taylor Bredin, an agent with Ray White Quakers Hill, told the outlet.

Bredin estimated that the land could accommodate up to 50 houses, with each subdivided 3,200-square-foot block potentially fetching a million dollars each.

Diane Zammit, 51, previously spoke to the outlet and reminisced about the area’s past, describing it as “farmland dotted with little red brick homes and cottages.”

“Every home was unique and there was so much space — but not any more. It’s just not the same,” she said.

Most of the neighboring blocks of land sold back in 2012 — which would have valued the Zammits’ property at around $4.75 million 10 years ago.

Their Windsor Castle-style home features a 650-foot driveway in the middle of their expansive lawn.

About 40 minutes from Sydney’s central core, the property offers panoramic views of the Blue Mountains.

The neighboring high-density homes are built right up to the property’s fence line.

A time-lapse video on Twitter showed the home standing valiantly amid surrounding construction over the years.

“Poor guys. They just want to live in peace,” one person commented.

A person responded: “True, but at this point wouldn’t $50m be enough to buy a house with a nice piece of land so this situation wouldn’t happen again as they own the surrounding land.”

https://nypost.com/2023/05/10/this-family-rejects-developers-offers-to-keep-dream-home/

Edited May 11, 2023 by samhexum
just for the hell of it

[Luv2play]

I would sell and move somewhere nicer. $50 million would buy a lot nicer.

[Guest]

Or how about $50 million for an ephemeral house?

Iconic ‘Wave House’ in Malibu hits market for almost $50 million 

KTLA.COM

---

The “Wave House” – the iconic Malibu beachside home built by the late Harry Gesner – has surfaced on the housing market for the first time in 36 years.  The home...

 

Edited June 4, 2023 by Unicorn

[samhexum]

On 12/23/2022 at 10:03 PM, Marc in Calif said:

This San Francisco tower has long been tilting and... sinking! 

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/new-problem-at-SF-sinking-tower-17179301.php

 

On 12/23/2022 at 10:10 PM, azdr0710 said:

Both the NYC and SF leaning buildings above are built on fill land that was once offshore......much of the "new" waterfront land in SF was created from pushing the debris from the 1906 quake and fires into the bay

Tilt of Millennium Tower deepens as engineers work to reverse lean

It’s the leaning tower of San Francisco.

The Bay Area’s Millennium Tower has only continued to tilt further and sink deeper west in spite of architects’ best efforts to steady the ritzy building.

The multimillion-dollar-per-unit tower is now leaning more than 29 inches at the corner of Fremont and Mission streets — a slant over half an inch deeper than previously revealed, according to monitoring data reviewed by NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit.

The half-inch tilt was reportedly gained while engineers dug beneath the sinking condominium earlier this year to support the weight of the tower — which was built atop a former landfill — along its two sides.

Fix engineers saw progress in stabilizing the Millenium Tower’s north side along Mission Street after implementing six concrete-filled steel piles along its base in January, but it may have come at a cost to the tower’s west side, the data shows.

Rooftop-based monitoring data — which is based on rooftop measurements and foundation-based determinations — indicates the tower shifted nearly an inch to the west compared to its tilt before it was supported on the north side.

 

Engineers in charge claim the data may not be reliable, despite pointing it to as proof of success earlier in the first phase of the project.

Project engineer Ron Hamburger told NBC in a statement that the rooftop figures are prone to weather fluctuations and said purely foundation-based data is more reliable.

The foundation-based digits also show that the tower is tilting more toward the west than ever, but only by about a quarter of an inch — a lean Hamburger claimed was “negligible.”

“We are fully confident that following transfer of the remaining design load to the piles,’’ Hamburger said, adding that “there will be no further … movement of the roof to the west.”

Hamburger and his team next plan to secure the foundation to the dozen piles sunk along Fremont Street that will bear the partial weight of the building load.

Each pile is 24 inches in diameter and has been driven 270 feet to bedrock and is designed to support 1 million pounds of weight, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Engineers hope to reverse the tilt — which was revealed to residents in 2016 — by the end of the month.

https://nypost.com/2023/06/11/san-franciscos-millennium-towers-tilt-deepens-as-engineers-rush-to-reverse-lean/

[samhexum]

On 6/11/2023 at 4:41 AM, samhexum said:

 

Tilt of Millennium Tower deepens as engineers work to reverse lean

 

[BSR]

On 6/11/2023 at 1:41 AM, samhexum said:

 

Tilt of Millennium Tower deepens as engineers work to reverse lean

It’s the leaning tower of San Francisco.

The Bay Area’s Millennium Tower has only continued to tilt further and sink deeper west in spite of architects’ best efforts to steady the ritzy building.

The multimillion-dollar-per-unit tower is now leaning more than 29 inches at the corner of Fremont and Mission streets — a slant over half an inch deeper than previously revealed, according to monitoring data reviewed by NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit.

The half-inch tilt was reportedly gained while engineers dug beneath the sinking condominium earlier this year to support the weight of the tower — which was built atop a former landfill — along its two sides.

Fix engineers saw progress in stabilizing the Millenium Tower’s north side along Mission Street after implementing six concrete-filled steel piles along its base in January, but it may have come at a cost to the tower’s west side, the data shows.

Rooftop-based monitoring data — which is based on rooftop measurements and foundation-based determinations — indicates the tower shifted nearly an inch to the west compared to its tilt before it was supported on the north side.

 

Engineers in charge claim the data may not be reliable, despite pointing it to as proof of success earlier in the first phase of the project.

Project engineer Ron Hamburger told NBC in a statement that the rooftop figures are prone to weather fluctuations and said purely foundation-based data is more reliable.

The foundation-based digits also show that the tower is tilting more toward the west than ever, but only by about a quarter of an inch — a lean Hamburger claimed was “negligible.”

“We are fully confident that following transfer of the remaining design load to the piles,’’ Hamburger said, adding that “there will be no further … movement of the roof to the west.”

Hamburger and his team next plan to secure the foundation to the dozen piles sunk along Fremont Street that will bear the partial weight of the building load.

Each pile is 24 inches in diameter and has been driven 270 feet to bedrock and is designed to support 1 million pounds of weight, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Engineers hope to reverse the tilt — which was revealed to residents in 2016 — by the end of the month.

https://nypost.com/2023/06/11/san-franciscos-millennium-towers-tilt-deepens-as-engineers-rush-to-reverse-lean/

For the sake of the Millennium Tower residents and all their neighbors, I hope the plan to level the building works.  But it's built on soft soil and is already leaning 29 inches ... oh boy.  Best of luck 'cuz they're gonna need it.

[pubic_assistance]

3 hours ago, BSR said:

For the sake of the Millennium Tower residents and all their neighbors, I hope the plan to level the building works.  But it's built on soft soil and is already leaning 29 inches ... oh boy.  Best of luck 'cuz they're gonna need it.

Same problem in NYC at the South Street Seaport.

NO tower should really be built on landfill. But this is continuously done and everyone just keeps crossing their fingers and then acting surprised when things go bad.

 

[samhexum]

On 3/9/2021 at 5:16 PM, JoeMendoza said:

Greatest Real Estate Finds

LITERALLY:

Turkish man knocked down basement wall to find 2,000-year-old underground city — after chasing his chickens through a hole

In an effort to recapture his escaping poultry, the unidentified man knocked down the wall in the 1960s to reveal a dark tunnel leading to the ancient city of Elengubu, known today as Derinkuyu.

Derinkuyu, burrowed more than 280 feet beneath the Central Anatolian region of Cappadocia, is the largest excavated underground city in the world and is believed to connect to more than 200 smaller, separate underground cities that were discovered in recent decades, Turkish guides told the BBC.

Inside the subterranean city — whose entrances connect to more than 600 private homes in the modern, surface-level region of Cappadocia — researchers found 18 levels of tunnels containing dwellings, dry food storage, cattle stables, schools, wineries and even a chapel.

The city was also equipped with a ventilation system that supplied its residents with a steady stream of fresh air and water.

“Life underground was probably very difficult,” the guide, identified as Suleman, told the outlet.

Derinkuyu is the largest excavated city in the world.  

“The residents relieved themselves in sealed clay jars, lived by torchlight and disposed of dead bodies in [designated] areas.”

The exact date the impressive city was built remains contested, but ancient writings dating back to 370 BC indicate Derinkuyu was in existence.

The city was likely originally used to store goods, but was then used as a bunker to escape from foreign invaders — the dimly-lit hallways were intentionally built narrow and low so intruders would be forced to stoop and enter in a single-file line.

The doors connecting each level were blocked by half-ton boulders only moveable from the inside that contained a small hole that allowed residents to spear the confined trespassers.

The city likely reached its peak population of 20,000 during the 7th-century

Though it remains a mystery who the architects were, researchers believe the Hittites — a Bronze Age Anatolian people — “may have excavated the first few levels in the rock when they came under attack from the Phrygians around 1200 BCE,” A Bertini, an expert in Mediterranean cave dwellings, wrote in his 2010 essay on regional cave architecture.

The Phrygian invaders, an Indo-European-speaking empire that ruled Anatolia for 600 years, are credited with building the bulk of the city in the centuries before Derinkuyu changed hands several more times, including between the Persians, Christians and Cappadocian Greeks.

The city likely reached its peak population of 20,000 during the 7th-century Islamic raids on the Christian Byzantine Empire, the BBC reported.

After 2,000 years of use, Derinkuyu was finally abandoned in 1923 by the Cappadocian Greeks, who faced defeat in the Greco-Turkish war and escaped to Greece.

One century after it was rediscovered, the ancient city is open to visitors curious to experience life underground in Derinkuyu, which was added to the Unesco World Heritage list in 1985.

https://nypost.com/2023/06/15/ancient-turkish-city-discovered-after-man-knocked-down-basement-wall/

[pubic_assistance]

On 6/15/2023 at 6:43 AM, samhexum said:

One century after it was rediscovered, the ancient city is open to visitors curious to experience life underground in Derinkuyu, which was added to the Unesco World Heritage list in 1985.

I've been to this site. Definitely worth a visit when touring Turkey.

You can also stay in a "cave hotel" which are popular in Cappadocia.

People often don't realize the importance of the region in the early years of Christian philosphy amongst the Greeks . Some incredible and important history there.

[samhexum]

 

Big Apple steal A look inside NYC's cheapest apartment — and what it's going for

The listing price for this New York City co-op sounds so unbelievable that it may seem to be a hoax — but no, this isn’t a scam.

A spacious alcove studio in Jamaica, Queens, is on the market for the rock-bottom price of $80,000, making it the cheapest residential property currently for sale within city limits, according to StreetEasy listing data.

Despite the five-figure asking price, lead listing agent Mark Cisneros of Keller Williams says that the unit is a standard co-op and not one designated as a Housing Development Fund Corporation, more commonly known as an HDFC. (Those are co-ops that are earmarked with strict financial requirements to give low-income New Yorkers affordable housing.)

Still, the sale of this unit does come with some fine print. The requirements to be considered, Cisneros says, are that owners must have a minimum annual income of $40,000 for three consecutive years and a net worth of at least $25,000.

Located on a quiet residential street in Jamaica near the bustling thoroughfare of Jamaica Avenue and the main branch of the Queens Public Library, the studio is large and sun-drenched, according to Cisneros.

The unit has hardwood floors and a full kitchen. No, it doesn’t have a dishwasher, but there is counter space and cabinets, though the listing images show the space could use an update — which the listing price can afford.

While not a walk-in, the closet for clothes, shoes and “stuff” in general isn’t minuscule either — nor is the bathroom that fits a full bathtub.

The co-op is situated in Avalon Terrace: a clean, well-kept building constructed in 1963 with an elevator, a laundry room and a garage.

Its asking price puts it nearly $20,000 below the city’s next least-expensive listing: a 650-square-foot one-bedroom co-op in Spuyten Duyvil — an area of The Bronx that’s very close to Inwood in Manhattan — asking $96,154, whose listing says there’s already an accepted offer. That home hit the market last Thursday.

Cisneros says that the Queens apartment has been on the market since June 21st and generated strong interest right from the start.

“We got multiple offers from day one,” he said. “The lowest offer was for the asking price, and most were above $100,000. Numerous were all-cash offers. Right now, we have an accepted offer that’s in the six figures, but it’s not in contract yet.”

Cisneros declined to give specifics on the seller, only revealing that it’s a family that has owned the co-op for several decades.

In his StreetEasy description of the property, Cisneros cites rental data on the area to entice bidders: according to the research firm Rentometer, he says, the average rent of a studio per month in Jamaica is $1,980. Monthly mortgage and maintenance payments — the latter being $630, StreetEasy shows — for the property to work out to be less.

Jonathan Miller, the president and chief executive of the real estate appraisal and consulting firm Miller Samuel, says the average sale price for a co-op in Queens is about $340,000, per his market report series for Douglas Elliman.

“We are used to looking at the headline numbers like these, but these market numbers are averages, meaning prices can be much higher and lower,” he said.

“You don’t hear about them, but there are a fair amount of apartments that come up for in New York that cost under $100,000,” he added. “We’re all so obsessed with the high-end market that all of our attention goes there.”

Edited July 18, 2023 by samhexum
for absolutely NO @%!*ing reason at all!

[samhexum]

'Creepy' abandoned Chinese mansion development reclaimed by farmers

In China’s northeast, in the hills surrounding the city of Shenyang, a project called the State Guest Mansions still sits half-finished, although its developer long ago threw in the towel on the venture. 

Now, more than a decade since 2012 when, just two years after breaking ground, the Chinese real estate behemoth Greenland Group abandoned the 260 villas it once planned to build on the plot, nature, cows and farmers are taking back the land.  Feral dogs and cattle roam between the European-style chateaus and farmers plow property once intended to be lush lawns.

The situation is not unique to the State Guest Mansions — in fact, it is so common there’s a Chinese phrase for similar would-be luxe residences which have instead become eyesores: “Rotten-tail” homes.

Indeed, according to one officially affiliated Shanghai research group, under 4% of housing projects across China, or the equivalent of 2.5 billion square feet of real estate, have been left half-built as of this past June.   

 

Cattle now freely roam the property.  very aMOOsing!       A model at a deserted housing sales building.

Edited July 27, 2023 by samhexum
because he's bored as hell

[samhexum]

A Washington D.C. resident is selling a giant wall he inherited from his father for $50,000 — in a petty move to annoy his neighbor.

Allen Berger told the Washington Post that his father initially bought the wall as a joke — so he could say he owned property in Georgetown.

Berger revealed that he decided to put the brick facade on the market after getting into a disagreement with his neighbor, Daniela Walls.

Walls, her surname being ironic, owns the interior 12 inches of the wall. Berger owns the exterior 12 inches on the south side of her house, which she purchased back in 2019.

She knew at the time that Berger owned part of the wall of her home. But things took a turn in 2020 when Walls noticed water leaking into her house. She discovered the beams in the part of the wall that Berger owns were wet and therefore threatening the structure of her home, she told the Washington Post.

Before Walls offered to buy the wall from Berger, she complained to the DC Department of Buildings (DOB). They fined Berger twice in connection to “improper upkeep” of his property — including chipping paint and rotting materials — for a total of $1,661 in November.

Berger denied the claims and is scheduled to go before an Office of Administrative Hearings administrative law judge in September, according to the outlet.

Walls then offered to buy the wall from Berger through her attorney, Eric Rome, for its tax-assessed value of $600.

This didn’t exactly sit well with Berger, revealing that Walls had “blindsided him” with her actions involving the DOB.

“That’s when I came up with $50,000, without any research, without any great thought,” he said. “For better or for worse.”

In response, Walls told the Washington Post that Berger’s claims were “childish” and she didn’t want her house to fall down as a result of the structural damage.

“Everybody is working to resolve this, not because they have a vendetta against Allen,” she said. “It’s because they want to solve a problem.” 

Walls says she has no intention of paying $50,000 for the wall because then she would have to spend tens of thousands on repairs and upkeep as a result of its deterioration.

“Nobody is going to give you a mortgage for a wall,” she told the outlet.

But it looks like Walls underestimated the interest in the DC real estate market.

Berger listed the wall, with the address 30th St NW, with Robert Morris of Keller Williams.

Morris, who grew up in DC for the last 60 years, told The New York Post on Wednesday that they received a serious offer from a young woman who wanted to buy the wall.

“We’re trying to do everything we can to make sure she gets it,” he told The Post, adding that he is unsure what she wants to do with it.

Morris previously told the Washington Post, that they had 12 other offers on the wall but that 11 backed out after being told that any murals or advertisements on the wall would have to get approval from the Old Georgetown Board.

The remaining offer dropped out after seeing it in person.

“This has absolutely been one of the most interesting listings I’ve ever had,” Morris added.

 

 

[Guest]

Powerball jackpot winner purchases $25.5 millon mansion in Hollywood Hills

KTLA.COM

---

The winner of last year’s record-setting $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot has made his first major splurge. Edwin Castro, who came forward to claim the prize in February...

 

[samhexum]

Brooklyn's first supertall skyscraper reaches completion

 

New York studio SHoP Architects has completed the black and bronze facade of the supertall skyscraper Brooklyn Tower, the tallest building in the borough.

 

At 93 storeys and 1,066 feet, the supertall skyscraper topped out in March 2023, but the intricate cladding of its exterior was only recently completed.

The skyscraper, next to Junior's,  features blackened stainless panels running from the top of the tower towards the bottom, where it meets the preserved, historic Dimes Savings Bank, which has been integrated into the tower's podium.

Running the length of the tower are bronze and copper pilasters that give definition to the black facade, which at certain points comes to edges, creating a staggered appearance. The building has quickly become one of, if not the most, visible structures on the Brooklyn skyline.

Last year, SHoP principal Greg Pasquarelli told Dezeen in an exclusive interview that the structure, because of its special zoning, "would be kind of like the Empire State Building of Brooklyn."

"We wanted to make sure that no matter what grid you were on, looking at it from wherever you were in Brooklyn, you felt like you were looking at the front," he continued.

The skyscraper, which has more than 500 residences as well as retail at its base, has a wider base than many other supertalls because of the winds in Brooklyn.

The larger base means that the tower tapers, drawing attention to the smaller peaks of the tower as it narrows towards the tops. The base is clad in white marble, reflecting the art deco bank, and darkens as it rises.

The tower also has a number of "wind floors" throughout its length that allow heavy gusts to pass throughout without rocking the massive structure. According to New York magazine Curbed, one of the taller wind floors has been outfitted with a basketball court, the highest in the world.

The tower's distinct form and colour have led some in the city to compare the building to the architecture of Sauron's Dark Fortress, a tower in Peter Jackson's filmatisation of the Lord of the Rings novels.

Inside, the art deco design of the Dimes Saving Bank has been carried through many of the public spaces, including the lobby design by Krista Ninivaggi.

The tower features multiple entrances, one directly from the street and another through the renovated bank, which has become a retail and pedestrian space.

SHoP Architects is also responsible for the nearby Barclays Center, a stadium clad with thousands of steel panels.

It has designed a number of other buildings throughout the city, including 111 W 57th Street on Billionaires Row in Manhattan, the world's skinniest supertall skyscraper.

[+ nycman]

8 hours ago, samhexum said:

Brooklyn's first supertall skyscraper reaches completion

 

New York studio SHoP Architects has completed the black and bronze facade of the supertall skyscraper Brooklyn Tower, the tallest building in the borough.

 

At 93 storeys and 1,066 feet, the supertall skyscraper topped out in March 2023, but the intricate cladding of its exterior was only recently completed.

The skyscraper, next to Junior's,  features blackened stainless panels running from the top of the tower towards the bottom, where it meets the preserved, historic Dimes Savings Bank, which has been integrated into the tower's podium.

Running the length of the tower are bronze and copper pilasters that give definition to the black facade, which at certain points comes to edges, creating a staggered appearance. The building has quickly become one of, if not the most, visible structures on the Brooklyn skyline.

Last year, SHoP principal Greg Pasquarelli told Dezeen in an exclusive interview that the structure, because of its special zoning, "would be kind of like the Empire State Building of Brooklyn."

"We wanted to make sure that no matter what grid you were on, looking at it from wherever you were in Brooklyn, you felt like you were looking at the front," he continued.

The skyscraper, which has more than 500 residences as well as retail at its base, has a wider base than many other supertalls because of the winds in Brooklyn.

The larger base means that the tower tapers, drawing attention to the smaller peaks of the tower as it narrows towards the tops. The base is clad in white marble, reflecting the art deco bank, and darkens as it rises.

The tower also has a number of "wind floors" throughout its length that allow heavy gusts to pass throughout without rocking the massive structure. According to New York magazine Curbed, one of the taller wind floors has been outfitted with a basketball court, the highest in the world.

The tower's distinct form and colour have led some in the city to compare the building to the architecture of Sauron's Dark Fortress, a tower in Peter Jackson's filmatisation of the Lord of the Rings novels.

Inside, the art deco design of the Dimes Saving Bank has been carried through many of the public spaces, including the lobby design by Krista Ninivaggi.

The tower features multiple entrances, one directly from the street and another through the renovated bank, which has become a retail and pedestrian space.

SHoP Architects is also responsible for the nearby Barclays Center, a stadium clad with thousands of steel panels.

It has designed a number of other buildings throughout the city, including 111 W 57th Street on Billionaires Row in Manhattan, the world's skinniest supertall skyscraper.

I really dislike SHoP Architects. 

Their buildings are just plain ugly.

[CuriousByNature]

18 hours ago, samhexum said:

Brooklyn's first supertall skyscraper reaches completion

 

New York studio SHoP Architects has completed the black and bronze facade of the supertall skyscraper Brooklyn Tower, the tallest building in the borough.

 

At 93 storeys and 1,066 feet, the supertall skyscraper topped out in March 2023, but the intricate cladding of its exterior was only recently completed.

The skyscraper, next to Junior's,  features blackened stainless panels running from the top of the tower towards the bottom, where it meets the preserved, historic Dimes Savings Bank, which has been integrated into the tower's podium.

Running the length of the tower are bronze and copper pilasters that give definition to the black facade, which at certain points comes to edges, creating a staggered appearance. The building has quickly become one of, if not the most, visible structures on the Brooklyn skyline.

Last year, SHoP principal Greg Pasquarelli told Dezeen in an exclusive interview that the structure, because of its special zoning, "would be kind of like the Empire State Building of Brooklyn."

"We wanted to make sure that no matter what grid you were on, looking at it from wherever you were in Brooklyn, you felt like you were looking at the front," he continued.

The skyscraper, which has more than 500 residences as well as retail at its base, has a wider base than many other supertalls because of the winds in Brooklyn.

The larger base means that the tower tapers, drawing attention to the smaller peaks of the tower as it narrows towards the tops. The base is clad in white marble, reflecting the art deco bank, and darkens as it rises.

The tower also has a number of "wind floors" throughout its length that allow heavy gusts to pass throughout without rocking the massive structure. According to New York magazine Curbed, one of the taller wind floors has been outfitted with a basketball court, the highest in the world.

The tower's distinct form and colour have led some in the city to compare the building to the architecture of Sauron's Dark Fortress, a tower in Peter Jackson's filmatisation of the Lord of the Rings novels.

Inside, the art deco design of the Dimes Saving Bank has been carried through many of the public spaces, including the lobby design by Krista Ninivaggi.

The tower features multiple entrances, one directly from the street and another through the renovated bank, which has become a retail and pedestrian space.

SHoP Architects is also responsible for the nearby Barclays Center, a stadium clad with thousands of steel panels.

It has designed a number of other buildings throughout the city, including 111 W 57th Street on Billionaires Row in Manhattan, the world's skinniest supertall skyscraper.

When I lived in the Vancouver area there was a building being constructed that was the tallest in the city at that time, and was being built on the highest point in the downtown core.  Even so, it would have been dwarfed by most of the true skyscrapers in NYC.  As it was being built a huge controversy erupted - surprise, surprise.  The building had been approved to have dark windows, but there was such an uproar that the structure was looking like a black finger of doom emerging from the cityscape that the city forced the developers to change the window colour part way through construction.  So the bottom 30 or so floors were dark glass and the top 15 or 20 were lighter.  Eventually I believe the top windows had to be changed a decade later due to issues with the quality, and the building became uniformly dark - which I think adds interest to the cityscape rather than detracting from it.  

[samhexum]

• 

  'World's cheapest home' with 'avant-garde floor hole' lists for $1 in Michigan

[samhexum]

[samhexum]

NOT ENOUGH WOOD IN THE DECOR...

 

Step Inside a Vintage Electric Light-Bath Cabinet in a Bronxville Tudor, Yours for $1.995 Million

 

 

Wrapped in old world style, this Bronxville stone Tudor still has some of the amenities that would have attracted a 1920s house hunter, including a bathroom in the latest Art Deco style complete with a contraption that promised therapeutic benefits.

Perhaps modern home buyers aren’t on the lookout for an electric light-bath cabinet, but the house on the market at 9 Rittenhouse Road is also awash in details like half timbering, beamed ceilings, paneling, and mantels. Completed in 1928, it was constructed as part of the Corwood development abutting the Siwanoy Country Club and west of the downtown core of Bronxville.

Corwood was a project of the Corlando Corporation, which had S. Wilbur Corman as its president. The project included 24 house sites in a woodland setting, with Bronxville resident Lewis Bowman as the consulting architect and A.F. Brinckerhoff as the landscape architect. A full page ad for the project in 1927 promised it was “a highly restricted development” for families that wished to “develop the right type of home.”

Corman was an advertising man who turned to development and moved into the new neighborhood he was promoting. In 1928 he and wife Anna M. Corman moved into the newly completed house at 9 Rittenhouse Road.

The Tudor style of their home was a popular choice of the era, with the largest homes earning the nickname Stockbroker Tudor. While the 1920s evoke visions of skyscrapers and streamlined design, it was also a time that saw a bit of Old England translated into a housing style fit for the tycoons of the modern era. With their asymmetrical massing, picturesque half timbering, and peaked roofs, Tudor-style homes began dotting the emerging U.S. suburbs in the late 19th century and continued to be popular until the start of the Depression.

Architect Lewis Bowman was proficient in the revival styles that were the rage at the time, including Mediterranean and Dutch Colonial, with a particular emphasis on English-inspired designs like Tudor Revival. While his work pops up in Pelham Manor and Scarsdale, it is Bronxville with which he is most associated and where he headquartered his architectural practice. It is estimated that he designed more than 50 houses in Bronxville alone, and a 1930 monograph credits him with the design of the Corman house.

In 1930 the census records the Cormans occupying the house, along with a live-in maid. Local papers reported on the many garden parties, teas, and bridge parties the couple hosted in their spacious abode.

S. Wilbur Corman had only a decade of living in the home, passing away in 1938 at age 61. An obituary noted his health had been failing for three years before his death from heart disease. Back in 1915 he had also experienced a health setback, resigning from an advertising position after undergoing what a trade publication called a “severe operation” that necessitated a long break from work.

Perhaps Corman’s health issues explain the electric light-bath cabinet still in place in the house. The wooden cabinet is outfitted with a stool, mirrors, and bulbs and set in a niche in the Art Deco bathroom. To partake in the therapy, a person would step inside, close the doors while leaving their head outside the box, and turn on a switch for a dose of heat from the incandescent bulbs.

A patent for a radiant-heat bath was issued in 1896 to Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, wellness promoter and head of the Battle Creek Sanitarium. Kellogg, who advocated a number of health cures, believed in the therapeutic benefits of light for a long list of ailments. In his 1910 book “Light Therapeutics” he predicted that in time his invention would become a “necessary part of a complete bathroom outfit in private homes.” The list of ailments he suggested might benefit from the therapy included cardiac disease, diabetes, syphilis, and migraines. Kellogg said short stints of three to six minutes per treatment were typically sufficient, although longer sessions might be needed to address some conditions like rheumatism and gout.

A 1925 ad for a Battle Creek electric-light bath. Image via Modern Hospital

Curious Brooklynites in December of 1928 could stop by Loeser’s on Fulton Street for a “Battle Creek Health Week” to see a variety of Kellogg inventions on display, including the cabinet. There were also demonstrations led by a “prize winning beauty” on how to “safely reduce weight and build a firm body.”

If the quirky cabinet isn’t a draw, the house also has more than 7,000 square feet of living space that includes eight bedrooms and 6.5 baths. Owners over the decades have left much of the original detail intact so it is easy to imagine the Cormans’ guests entering through the atmospheric entry hall with its beamed ceiling, half timbering on the walls, and stone mantel. There is also a paneled parlor and a window-filled dining room.

The kitchen has been updated, and while a few style tweaks could bring it more in stylistic sympathy with the rest of the house, it has a dishwasher, an island, and plenty of cabinet space. There is a tantalizing glimpse of a pantry kitted out with a vintage sink, deep red elephant-adorned wallpaper, and shelves for bar necessities.

Upstairs, in addition to all the bedroom space is a library with built-in shelves and another mantel. There is also another Art Deco bathroom, this one with violet fixtures and tiles. A shot of a dressing room with built-ins also shows a view of some vintage green floor tiles and violet wall tiles in an en suite bath.

There is more entertaining space in a basement room with a beamed ceiling and cabinets on either side of a fireplace. One of those cabinets opens to reveal a vintage bar sink with more shelving space for a liquor stash.

The house sits on just under an acre of land and is approached via a gently curved stone driveway. There is a stone patio at the rear of the house and an attached three-car garage.

Listed with Susan Kelty Law of Houlihan Lawrence, the house is asking $1.995 million. The listing notes that a decision is expected in September on a tax grievance that was filed for the property.

If you want to view an electric light-bath cabinet in splendid surroundings, one can be seen at Coe Hall, the Tudor Revival mansion at Planting Fields in Oyster Bay. The 65-room house, designed by Walker & Gillette, includes the dressing room of W. R. Coe fitted out with a restored cabinet. The house is open for guided and self-guided tours and is also set within an Olmsted Brothers-designed landscape well worth roaming.

https://www.brownstoner.com/upstate/bronxville-tudor-house-for-sale-9-rittenhouse-road-electric-light-bath/

 

[Guest]

That Bronxville house does seem like a steal. Is the catch just that it would have a lot of upkeep costs?

[samhexum]

8 minutes ago, Unicorn said:

That Bronxville house does seem like a steal. Is the catch just that it would have a lot of upkeep costs?

I guess that's one of life's great mysteries...

[samhexum]

2 hours ago, samhexum said:

NOT ENOUGH WOOD IN THE DECOR...

 

45 minutes ago, Unicorn said:

That Bronxville house does seem like a steal. Is the catch just that it would have a lot of upkeep costs?

The cost of Pledge alone would be prohibitive!

 

[samhexum]