Sky House, 11 East 29th Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 11 East 29th Street by Carter Horsley

The Sky House is a handsome, soaring, 55-story, red-brick, tower at 11 East 29th Street that used air rights from the charming, adjacent Church of the Transfiguration, known familiarly as the Little Church Around The Corner at 1 East 29th Street.

It was developed by The Clarett Group and was designed by FXFowle. It was completed in 2008.

The building has two setbacks on its north side and a total of 139 one-, two- and three-bedroom residential condominium apartments.

A new parish hall for the church occupies the lower floors of the tower.

Bottom Line

A very tall and slender, through-block tower overlooks one of the city’s most charming small churches and has wonderful views.

Description

This very attractive tower has considerable "elan."

The base of the building containing the church’s parish hall has a dramatic, angled façade that is markedly, and handsomely, different from the residential floors.

The mid-block building, which extends through the block to 20 East 30th Street, is across the street from, and a little to the east of the Madison Belvedere, a 50-story, 400-unit rental tower erected a few years ago at 10 West 29th Street.

According to the architects, "to help the building blend with its lower-scale surroundings, the building was divided into three slender masses," each clad in a red-brown iron-spot brick.

"The element facing 29th Street and overlooking the church is set back from the street and has an architectural expression of vertical piers....Like a belfry or campanile, this almost-square tower soars into the sky celebrating and defining the presence of the historic landmark. The church’s parish house is a new three-story structure at the base of the tower that projects forward to the sidewalk, thus extending the scale and refined architectural detail of the church compound toward the east."

Amenities

The new building has a 24-hour doorman and concierge service, a fitness center, a children’s playroom and private storage.

There is good public transportation in the area and Madison Square Park is just three blocks south and there are many restaurants nearby in the Flatiron District.

Apartments

All units have washers and dryers and kitchens have KitchenAid Architect Series appliances, cherry wood cabinetry, and granite countertops. Baths have Grohe fixtures and black granite countertops.

Apartment 9C is a two-bedroom unit with an entry that leads past an open, pass-through kitchen to a 21-foot-wide living/dining room.

Apartment 9A is a two-bedroom unit with a entry that leads to a gallery that opens on a very large living room/dining/den area with a large open kitchen with an island.

Apartment 49B is a two-bedroom unit with a 19-foot-living room adjacent to an enclosed kitchen.

History

The church building was erected in 1849 on what were then the outskirts of the city.

In 1870 Joseph Jefferson was rebuffed at a nearby church in arranging for the funeral of his friend, George Holland, an actor. Told that there was a little church around the corner where "they do that sort of thing," Jefferson fervently and memorably exclaimed, "God Bless the Little Church Around the Corner."

In 1923, the Episcopal Actors’ Guild was founded and it carries on an active program at its national headquarters in the Guild Hall and such theatrical greats as Basil Rathbone, Tallulah Bankhead, Cornelia Otis Skinner, Charlton Heston, and Rex Harrison served on its council.

The church s fourth rector, Father Orin Griesmyer, led the parish in opposing a city plan in 1962 to build a cross-town arterial highway that would have left the church stranded between the east- and west-bound lanes.

This neighborhood, sometimes referred to as "SoFi" for South Fifth Avenue or Curry Hill because of numerous Indian restaurants nearby on Lexington Avenue has witnessed a recent explosion of new residential projects.