The 24-story Art Deco building at 80 John Street in Lower Manhattan that was converted from offices to rental apartments in 1997 is now being converted to residential condominiums.
The building, which is now called the South Star, was the former Travelers Insurance building and its rental and condominium conversions were undertaken by WSA Equities, a real estate investment firm located in Garden City, N.Y. William Achenbaum is a principal of WSA Equities.
Stephen B. Jacobs is the architect and Andi Pepper is the designer for the new conversion.
The beige-brick building has a 4-step-up entrance and a 5-step-up vestibule.
It has a polished granite base beneath a four-story limestone base the top of which is a very attractive frieze with chevron designs that unfortunately has been punctured by some not-so-discrete air-conditioners.
The building is distinguished by its angled masonry spandrels that give the facade a fine sense of texture, highlighted by the green windows sills. The building has five setbacks and is at the southwest corner at Gold Street and it occupies the angled blockfront on Gold Street between John and Platt Streets.
It is diagonally across from an attractive food market store and there are numerous other residential conversions of office buildings in the immediate vicinity such as 59, 85 and 99 John Street.
This is an attractive and relative quiet street in the financial district and is convenient to the South Street Seaport and the Civic Center.
The building, which was erected in the 1920s, has an entrance canopy and garage and no sidewalk landscaping. It has about 145 apartments ranging in size from studios to three-bedroom units. The lobby is attended by a concierge and has 12-foot-high coffered ceilings.
The building, which is now called the South Star, was the former Travelers Insurance building and its rental and condominium conversions were undertaken by WSA Equities, a real estate investment firm located in Garden City, N.Y. William Achenbaum is a principal of WSA Equities.
Stephen B. Jacobs is the architect and Andi Pepper is the designer for the new conversion.
The beige-brick building has a 4-step-up entrance and a 5-step-up vestibule.
It has a polished granite base beneath a four-story limestone base the top of which is a very attractive frieze with chevron designs that unfortunately has been punctured by some not-so-discrete air-conditioners.
The building is distinguished by its angled masonry spandrels that give the facade a fine sense of texture, highlighted by the green windows sills. The building has five setbacks and is at the southwest corner at Gold Street and it occupies the angled blockfront on Gold Street between John and Platt Streets.
It is diagonally across from an attractive food market store and there are numerous other residential conversions of office buildings in the immediate vicinity such as 59, 85 and 99 John Street.
This is an attractive and relative quiet street in the financial district and is convenient to the South Street Seaport and the Civic Center.
The building, which was erected in the 1920s, has an entrance canopy and garage and no sidewalk landscaping. It has about 145 apartments ranging in size from studios to three-bedroom units. The lobby is attended by a concierge and has 12-foot-high coffered ceilings.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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