Brandon Miller has proposed building a 7-story, three-family residential condominium building on a narrow vacant lot at 137 Franklin Street in the TriBeCa West Historic District, according to an article in today's TriBeCa Trib by Matt Dunning.
The site is at the corner of Varick Street and across from Finn Square. It had been the site of a restaurant that was torn down in the mid-1990s for a residential project that never materialized, according to the article.
Mr. Miller, who now lives at 90 Franklin Street, has commissioned Studio MDA as the architectural firm for the project, which was recently presented for approval to the landmarks committee of Community Board 1, the article said.
"It was important to us was to create a building that fits in with the warehouse character of the neighborhood, but at the same time recognizes the sort of provincial character of Finn Square," Markus Dochantschi, a principal architect at Studio MDA, told the committee, the article continued, adding that the building's design "takes many of its cues from the former warehouse buildings that are typical in TriBeCa - including several of its neighboring buildings at 152, 140 and 100 Franklin Street, according to the project's designers."
"Clad in deep red brick and dark grey steel, the building would include nods to the classic Romanesque styling that can be found on other Tribeca facades. Soaring radial arches would rise over the five window banks on the north, east and south facades, and an angular steel cornice at the top of the building would mimic stone counterparts around the neighborhood, while retaining an overall modernist look," the article noted.
"The Landmarks Committee declined to render an opinion because Miller and his architects did not have physical samples of the decorative glass and the cornice. They asked the project's representatives to return to the committee in August with a full set of samples," the article said, adding that committee co-chair Bruce Ehrmann said he was "disposed to like it, but it's a very, very prominent site."
The site is at the corner of Varick Street and across from Finn Square. It had been the site of a restaurant that was torn down in the mid-1990s for a residential project that never materialized, according to the article.
Mr. Miller, who now lives at 90 Franklin Street, has commissioned Studio MDA as the architectural firm for the project, which was recently presented for approval to the landmarks committee of Community Board 1, the article said.
"It was important to us was to create a building that fits in with the warehouse character of the neighborhood, but at the same time recognizes the sort of provincial character of Finn Square," Markus Dochantschi, a principal architect at Studio MDA, told the committee, the article continued, adding that the building's design "takes many of its cues from the former warehouse buildings that are typical in TriBeCa - including several of its neighboring buildings at 152, 140 and 100 Franklin Street, according to the project's designers."
"Clad in deep red brick and dark grey steel, the building would include nods to the classic Romanesque styling that can be found on other Tribeca facades. Soaring radial arches would rise over the five window banks on the north, east and south facades, and an angular steel cornice at the top of the building would mimic stone counterparts around the neighborhood, while retaining an overall modernist look," the article noted.
"The Landmarks Committee declined to render an opinion because Miller and his architects did not have physical samples of the decorative glass and the cornice. They asked the project's representatives to return to the committee in August with a full set of samples," the article said, adding that committee co-chair Bruce Ehrmann said he was "disposed to like it, but it's a very, very prominent site."
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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