{"id":812,"date":"2006-03-13T08:40:03","date_gmt":"2006-03-13T16:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2006\/03\/note_to_carpetbagging_manhattan_architects_and_developers_take_your_fancypants_skylights_back_to_chelsea_son_because_around_here_we_like_our_essays_dark_dank_and_inscrutable.html"},"modified":"2006-03-13T08:40:03","modified_gmt":"2006-03-13T16:40:03","slug":"note_to_carpetb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/archives\/2006\/03\/note_to_carpetb.html","title":{"rendered":"Note To Carpetbagging Manhattan Architects And Developers: Take Your Fancypants Skylights Back To Chelsea, Son, Because Around Here We Like Our Essays Dark, Dank And Inscrutable"},"content":{"rendered":"

That faceless warehouse space in the unhip spot down by the river is now an “essay in light”<\/a>:<\/p>\n

With the cacophony of pile drivers and backhoes in the background, Hugh Hardy and Darlene Fridstein emerged from their rented black sedan and surveyed one of New York City’s fastest-gentrifying neighborhoods: the waterfront of Long Island City, Queens.<\/p>\n

The two-story red stable they came to see, for sale for $3 million — to any enterprising artist, writer, small businessman or anyone else interested in urban pioneering — possesses one of the world’s best views of the Manhattan skyline.<\/p>\n

. . .<\/p>\n

Exactly one week later, Mr. Hardy and his staff produced plans for a wowie-zowie renovation of the space, as well as a verbal blueprint of the couple who would live in it.<\/p>\n

“He’s abandoned Merrill Lynch and she’s left her job with Cosmo,” the architect postulated. “They’ve embarked on their second careers; he’s a sculptor with a ground-floor gallery. He designs his sculpture with a computer. She’s writing an extraordinary book about his work.”<\/p>\n

As to the plan for the stable, “it’s an essay in light,” he said. “We’ve opened up the hayloft,” Mr. Hardy continued. “We’ve done a little glassy balcony in the front, with sort of an Italian feeling, to admire the staggering view. We carved out the back, and threw it away. The couple now has a long and narrow pool with a spigot — a fountain — a tree and a fabulous spiral staircase. After the somewhat subdued openings that take place here, they can throw a wild party!”<\/p>\n

. . .<\/p>\n

The interior, Ms. Fridstein said, would be sparse, but elegant. “She’s a French furniture collector; there’s no matchy-matchy in this space,” she said. “They like tables and chairs from the 30’s and 40’s; Jean Prouv\u00c3\u00a9; beautiful iron folding chairs. The carpets are woven from combinations of linens and silks, with a slight sheen.”<\/p>\n

She paused. “There will be no dog.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That faceless warehouse space in the unhip spot down by the river is now an “essay in light”: With the cacophony of pile drivers and backhoes in the background, Hugh Hardy and Darlene Fridstein emerged from their rented black sedan and surveyed one of New York City’s fastest-gentrifying neighborhoods: the waterfront of Long Island City, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-queens","category-real_estate","category-sliding_into_the_abyss_of_elitism_pretentiousness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}