Carter's Review

This small, mid-block residential condominium project at 138 West 19^th Street in Chelsea has only 5 units but a very strong and bold façade of black brick and glass modulated by a simple, boxy and wiry balcony on each residential floor.

It was developed by Erez Itzhaki, one of the developers of the somewhat larger, 15-unit condominium project known as Modern 23 at 350 West 23^rd Street.

Daniel Goldner was the architect of both buildings that share similar balconies and black façade elements although the 23^rd Street project is larger and wider with an asymmetrical façade treatment with many black borders culminating in a tall central flying buttress element.

Bottom Line

A small mid-block eruption of rectilinear modernity that is quite bold and handsome in a central Chelsea location.

Description

Black façades are pretty rare in the city but this one is quite animated because it alternates from one side to the other as it makes its short ascent and because it has some wiry small balcony “overlays.”

Apartments

The top apartment has two bedrooms on the 5^th floor, a 15-foot-long dining room with an open kitchen and a 23-foot-long living room on the 6^th floor, a roof terrace and a smaller “sky deck.”

The ground floor duplex unit has a 19-foot-wide rear living room with a spiral staircase down to the 18-foot-wide rear garden that opens onto a 19-foot-wide recreation room.  The living room on the first floor opens onto an 18-foot-long dining room with an open kitchen and a long corridor to leads to a 14-foot-wide bedroom.

The fourth floor unit has a 16-foot-wide bedroom with an 8-foot-wide, south balcony and a 19-foot-wide living room with a sliding door Juliet balcony and a 9-foot-long dining area across from a 10-foot-long open kitchen and a 12-foot-long enclosed office.