The William Beaver House at 15 William Street in the Financial District is a 47-story condominium apartment building that is distinctive for its unusual facade of cascading yellow bricks against a background of dark gray bricks, and for its initial marketing campaign of a tuxedo-clad beaver, the building's mascot, holding a martini glass.

An early rendering for the project indicated that stylistically the building falls into the "racing car/flying cab/Fifth Element" category of spirited but elegant mayhem.

Tsao & McKown is the architectural firm for the project, which was completed in 2008.

The William Beaver House building contains 319 apartments and was developed by SDS Investments, of which Tamir and Alex Sapir and S. Lawrence Davis are principals, and Andre Balazs, who developed the Mercer Hotel, 40 Mercer Street in SoHo and One Kenmare Square.

The project is known as the William Beaver House because it is located at the intersection of William Street and Beaver Street. It is across the street from Delmonico's.

BOTTOM LINE

The William Beaver House has a very central and very attractive location in the heart of the Financial District.  It has tons of amenities and is close to Battery Park City, the Battery, and the South Street Seaport and not far from 1 World Trade Center.

DESCRIPTION

William Beaver House is a tall, substantial, dark-gray brick tower that is distinguished by the random “dripping” of yellow bricks at the top and a “kitchen sink” full of amenities for its athletic-minded residents scurrying about in the middle of the Financial District.  Over the top?  You better believe it!

The notion of a cascading face was a treatment that was first proposed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in 2001 for its planned, but unbuilt, glass-clad, 1.7-million-square-foot tower for The New York Stock Exchange across Broad Street from its present location.

The notion of a building cascading is romantic to some, but terrifying to others in a post 9/11 world. Had the color theme had a stronger contrast of pitch black bricks and glittering gold bricks, it might have become the pot of gold at the end of every New Yorker’s rainbow.  As it is, it is a swinging young college graduate’s “house” of delirium right in the center of financial things.

AMENITIES

The building has an outdoor dog-walking garden, a 30-person combined screening room and disco lounge with lavender chaise "cinema beds," wet bar, and a Penthouse Sky Lounge with catering kitchen and private dining room and sun deck.

The lobby entrance has a see-through ceiling supporting a glass-encased, lighted outdoor Jacuzzi that is part of a second floor amenity center. The notion of looking up at people sitting in a Jacuzzi as one enters the building at the bottom has amused some posters on some websites.

The amenity center also has a 60-foot lap pool, outdoor basketball court with bleachers, a squash court, a gym and handball and tetherball courts.

The building has a driveway paved with the same marble used in the lobby, which has a large, oval, sunken "conversation pit" with fireplace, and the lobby is open to the public and offers prepared foods.

APARTMENTS

Apartments have 9-and-a-half-foot-high ceilings, eight-foot-high windows, Burmese teak floors and washers and dryers.

Kitchens have white lacquer cabinetry, stainless steel appliances, sliding backsplashes that conceal the faucet and sliding butcher-block panels that conceal the sink or cooktop.

Apartments have bathrooms that open fully into the bedrooms.

Many of the apartments have unusual layouts and there are a few duplex units.  There are also some terraces.

17A is a one-bedroom unit with corner windows in its living room and “solar” room and it has a long entrance gallery, an open kitchen and windowed bathrooms.

Apartment 30AB has a very long entrance gallery that leads to an extremely wide living/dining room with corner windows at both ends of the space.  The unit also has a 30-foot-long master bedroom with a very large bathroom.

One of the most interesting layouts in the city is #30I, a two-bedroom unit in which all major rooms are substantially angled.

Another two-bedroom unit, 16E, has a sharply angled corner window in its living room, which has an open kitchen.

The two-bedroom Apartment 19H has a handsome layout in which an angled open kitchen with substantial dining are is to the right of the entrance and the very long, angled living room is to the left.

HISTORY

SDS Investments acquired the site from the Manocherian family for about $90 million.

The building has 10 duplex "townhouses" with terraces, three penthouses with terraces, and 48 custom furnished units as well as many studio, one- and two-bedroom units.

Mr. Balazs was quoted in an article by Steve Cutler in The Real Deal as saying that "We wanted to back off of an all-glass building and make it contextual, yet fun and somewhat distinguished at the same time."

An article by Julie V. Iovine in The New York Times quoted Mr. Balazs as saying "If you have children, go to Battery Park City," meaning presumably that his building was better suited to partying young adults and that there was more park space at Battery Park City.