139 Wooster Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 139 Wooster Street by Carter Horsley

The major façade of the 16-unit, through-block project is at 139 Wooster Street between Houston and Prince Streets and is distinguished by its broad, dark grey metal spandrels in contrast with its narrower, beige-masonry façade of its frontage at 455 West Broadway.

The two 8-story buildings are connected by a Japanese garden with bamboo, a maple tree, and a water feature with a Brazilian Ipe wood deck.

Beyer Blinder Belle is the architect and the Arun Bhatia Development Corporation, whose other major residential projects in Manhattan include The Strand, The Capri, The Dunhill, The Whitney, The Park East, and The Chelsea Regent, is the developer.

The two- to four-bedroom units range in size from about 1,447 to 4,252 square feet and have 11-foot-high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, Bosch washer and dryers, and Brazilian wide-plant, white oak floors.

Bathrooms have Wenge wood vanities with Lagos Azul slab stone counters, Oyster beige marble floors and walls and Neptune soaking tubs.

Kitchens have Cashmere Gold granite counters, very sleek cabinetry, and SubZero, Miele and Bosch appliances.

The lobby has a 24-hour concierge and Venetian plaster walls of warm iridescent gray, burnished cherry wood, back-painted fluted glass and Vellebois Jaune limestone flooring.

The building has a fitness center and ground-floor retail spaces on both West Broadway and Wooster Street.

Initial prices ranged from $1,920,000 to $7,995,000.

The site was acquired from Hyatt Hotels for $9,800,000 in 2004.

At a September 21, 2004 hearing before the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the Historic Districts Council expressed some concerns that the tall windows on Wooster Street might lead "to the unnerving prospect of seeing people and interiors in a strange 'display like view."

"Of greater concern, though, is the preponderance of unadorned metal on the Wooster Street façade," the council's statement continued. "Simply put, there is going to be 44 feet of gunmetal grey metal paneling along the street - which is a serious architectural statement and not altogether appropriate one for this historic streetscape. While metal is of course appropriate for the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District, the color and flat, inarticulate quality of this façade treatment will make it jar with its historic neighbors. Indeed, the overall dark palette chosen will make this building stand out all the more in contrast to its light neighbors. Finally, with all this metal going on the façade, there's no reason to stint on the cornice. The impressionistic cornice proposed is a nice gesture, but too slight and too ephemeral for both the district and this building."

The project's handsome design was approved by the commission.

The metal "paneling" on the Wooster Street façade is not that much out of context as there are somewhat similar façades in SoHo and its strong detailing and proportions are reminiscent of some of the best small "black" buildings designed by Philip Johnson.

The street it is on has a very lively retail presence.

"Soho vibrancy intersecting tranquility," proclaims the project's brochure beneath a rendering of the very handsome garden courtyard, adding that "where urban commotion gives way to botanical transcendence and the serenity of nature surrounds stoic concrete and iron."

The building sold out in early 2007 and opened in the spring of 2007.