The Classic New York City Six

What’s a girl to do in a recession? I’ve been thinking about that lately now that I have to tighten my belt. Instead of buying new things I have gone through my wardrobe and learned to love and recycle the clothes I already have. I was around in the late eighties and early nineties when a recession hit and fashion changed from Comme des Garcon to white t-shirts, black jackets and jeans overnight. What I learned is that Classic style always works.

The same holds true for real estate. When money is plentiful it’s easy to be seduced by flash. The badly laid out new condominium with the Italian kitchen, high taxes and the over hooked amenities, or my pet peeve the not so great ‘Great’ room. All wrapped up in a glass cover that may not withstand a bad winter, never mind the ‘test of time’. But when you are looking for value, and an asset that will always be attractive to future buyers, there is nothing like a pre-war building with a classic layout.

Not since the 1920’s have we seen the level of construction that we just experienced in the city over the last ten years. I often think how will future generations view these new buildings? Will they endure and become as iconic as those great Park Ave pre-wars? Or will they be go the way of the depised McMansion so dear to the nouveau rich? Personally I believe that amongst the downtown loft building conversions are where we will find the jewels of the future.

Rosario Candela is perhaps the most well known pre war architect and his most famous building has to be 740 Park Ave. Unfortunately the only example of his work downtown is 41 Fifth Ave. Candela was a Sicilian imigrant who graduated from Columbia University’s school of architecture. The reason his buildings have become much loved is due not only to the floorplans but also to his method of construction. Candela thickened the exterior walls of his buildings to enclose mechanicals and plumbing risers. His windows were larger than the norm to allow more light , his ceilings were higher and deep window reveals allowed radiators to be hidden for the first time. To this day when a buyer describes their ideal apartment to a broker they are usually invoking Rosario Candela without knowing it.

Another architect/developer of the era, James Carpenter, is famous for developing the classic new york floorplan; the ‘off the foyer’ layout. We have all been in one of these apartments where the rooms pivot off the entrance hall. This became the blueprint for nearly all the most successful apartments that followed.

What is remarkable is that in a city that is always changing, only 3 of the 126 buildings that these men designed have been lost to us over the years. That in itself is testimony to the legacy they left behind.

This entry was filed under Classic and tagged with 41 fifth, 740 park, Classic six, Classic Style, Gold Coast, iconic, james carpenter, loft, New York city pre war, New York Real Estate, pre war, Recession, rosario candela. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.