What better becomes, or freshens, an older masonry building than some stainless steel stringcourses and quoins and being a parent to a smaller modern building with a lot of shiny angularity?
Such "cosmetics" might seem a bit showy, but will probably fit right in Chelsea where such a dramatic design is being applied to Loft 25, where marketing has just begun for the conversion of a handsome, 9-story, commercial building at 420 West 25th Street and the addition of a new, adjoining, 7-story building just to the west.
The new building on the site is only about half the height of the older building, but the architects for the project, Traboscia Roiatti Studio, have tied the two buildings together thematically with extended stainless steel stringcourses that project at slight angles from the facades.
On the new building, they are angled in alternating fashion and also extend a bit over the facade of the older building except for the one at the top of the new building which extends almost all the way across the facade of the older building.
The bright, angled accents are also applied to the top half of the older building, which will have one stringcourse near the stop that extends almost entirely across the facade and two that serve as quoins and wrap around the side.
On the shorter building, the alternating angles of the stringcourses are somewhat reminiscent of the alternating angled bay windows of the Switch Building at 109 Norfolk Street, but they are more like "eyebrows" than swiveling hips.
The existing loft building has a masonry facade with six stringcourse and a nice roofline highlight by a center curved pediment and six escutcheons. It is also distinguished by its attractive fenestration pattern that has 5 three-window center groups flanked by a bay of two windows.
Loft 25 will have 60 loft apartments, four garden duplex apartments and three penthouses. Some apartments will have terraces and some will have home offices.
It will have a 24-hour doorman, a screening and conference room, a gym, a roof deck, a roof deck, and a lobby with a recessed double-height lounge and a rear garden with a reflecting pool.
Each apartment will have Asko washers and dryers and individual heating and conditioning.
Kitchens will have two Liebherr refrigerators and freezers, one with an ice-maker. They will also have Bosch gas cooktops and all-tempered-glass cabinetry by Schiffini.
Bathrooms will have Toto one-piece toilets, teak vanities with Duravit sinks, Nobili Spa rainheads and multiple sprays, and porcelemosa ceramic tile walls and floors.
The developer is R.A.L. Companies & Affiliates, LLC, whose other projects include the Franklin Tower and Tower 270, both in TriBeCa, and a 450-family project known as One Brooklyn Bridge Park planned for the waterfront in Brooklyn.
Creative Design Associates, LLC, is handling interior design.
Prices range from about $600,000 for a 705-square-foot studio, one-bath apartment on the first floor to about $1,300,000 for a one-bedroom, one-home-office, two-bath apartment with 1,199 square feet on the 7th floor to about $2,650,000 for a two-bedroom, two-bath penthouse apartment with 1,461 square feet of interior space and 1,255 square feet of outdoor space.
Such "cosmetics" might seem a bit showy, but will probably fit right in Chelsea where such a dramatic design is being applied to Loft 25, where marketing has just begun for the conversion of a handsome, 9-story, commercial building at 420 West 25th Street and the addition of a new, adjoining, 7-story building just to the west.
The new building on the site is only about half the height of the older building, but the architects for the project, Traboscia Roiatti Studio, have tied the two buildings together thematically with extended stainless steel stringcourses that project at slight angles from the facades.
On the new building, they are angled in alternating fashion and also extend a bit over the facade of the older building except for the one at the top of the new building which extends almost all the way across the facade of the older building.
The bright, angled accents are also applied to the top half of the older building, which will have one stringcourse near the stop that extends almost entirely across the facade and two that serve as quoins and wrap around the side.
On the shorter building, the alternating angles of the stringcourses are somewhat reminiscent of the alternating angled bay windows of the Switch Building at 109 Norfolk Street, but they are more like "eyebrows" than swiveling hips.
The existing loft building has a masonry facade with six stringcourse and a nice roofline highlight by a center curved pediment and six escutcheons. It is also distinguished by its attractive fenestration pattern that has 5 three-window center groups flanked by a bay of two windows.
Loft 25 will have 60 loft apartments, four garden duplex apartments and three penthouses. Some apartments will have terraces and some will have home offices.
It will have a 24-hour doorman, a screening and conference room, a gym, a roof deck, a roof deck, and a lobby with a recessed double-height lounge and a rear garden with a reflecting pool.
Each apartment will have Asko washers and dryers and individual heating and conditioning.
Kitchens will have two Liebherr refrigerators and freezers, one with an ice-maker. They will also have Bosch gas cooktops and all-tempered-glass cabinetry by Schiffini.
Bathrooms will have Toto one-piece toilets, teak vanities with Duravit sinks, Nobili Spa rainheads and multiple sprays, and porcelemosa ceramic tile walls and floors.
The developer is R.A.L. Companies & Affiliates, LLC, whose other projects include the Franklin Tower and Tower 270, both in TriBeCa, and a 450-family project known as One Brooklyn Bridge Park planned for the waterfront in Brooklyn.
Creative Design Associates, LLC, is handling interior design.
Prices range from about $600,000 for a 705-square-foot studio, one-bath apartment on the first floor to about $1,300,000 for a one-bedroom, one-home-office, two-bath apartment with 1,199 square feet on the 7th floor to about $2,650,000 for a two-bedroom, two-bath penthouse apartment with 1,461 square feet of interior space and 1,255 square feet of outdoor space.
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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