Front & York: How DUMBO’s streets, bridges, and warehouses shaped its design

Front & York’s design draws from DUMBO’s industrial heritage such as its Belgian block streets, old factories, and the Manhattan Bridge

Friday, Jul 31, 2026 By CityRealty Staff, CityRealty contributor

Front & York is recently finished residential condo building in DUMBO, located near the East River waterfront and surrounded by the neighborhood's charming shops, restaurants, and markets. Developed by CIM Group and LIVWRK, and designed by Morris Adjmi Architects, its industrial-inspired facade of brick, metal, and divided light windows pays homage to the Brooklyn's manufacturing history. Inside, the residences and its 150,000 square feet of resort-style amenities and are arranged around a landscaped courtyard set within two offset towers that maximize views of the skyline and East River.

The project was never meant to feel like a generic glass condo dropped into DUMBO. Rather, the contextually attuned architect Morris Adjmi was inspired by the surrounding streets, from the hand-laid Belgian block paving to the steel-blue towers of the Manhattan Bridge.

Inside, the homes continue the dialogue with soaring loft-style ceilings, expansive industrial sash windows, warm-colored white oak floors and cabinetry, and marble-sheathed kitchens and baths

With the understated finishes meant to serve as a larger story to connect the homes with DUMBO’s warehouse character, we took a look at the individual materials to discern their value and why they were chosen. Overall, the careful applications of brick, metal, glass, oak, marble grant the residences the warmth, comfort and refinement local homebuyers expect from high-end residential product today.

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Front & York’s Defining Material and Finishes

Custom Glen-Gery brick

Front & York’s Morris Adjmi-designed facade is clad in custom Glen-Gery brick. The gray tone was selected to echo DUMBO’s Belgian-blocked streets. The understated masonry color is also meant to give the large full block complex a more recessive industrial character to complement the historic neighborhood. The masonry was laid on-site by StructureTech New York, with custom gray bricks provided by Glen-Gery. Considerable labor was required to lay the brickwork, with over one hundred masons working daily using conventional masonry construction methods.

Photo showing Front and York's facade and its central, half-acre private park

Glass-fiber reinforced concrete Superframe

Front & York's scalloped "superframe", the light-colored grid overlaying the grey-brick facade, is made of GFRC, or glass-fiber reinforced concrete. The material is often used when elements need the appearance and depth of cast concrete without all the weight. The molded superframe is not structural and is layered over the façade in a six-bay-tall grid to create depth, shadow, and break down the complex's scale.

The superframe was custom molded, handcrafted in the Hudson Valley by David Kucera Incorporated, and was installed by StructureTech. The film below shows glimpses of the manufacturing process.

The custom-molded Superframe at Front & York gives the facade its distinctive depth and shadow.

Steel-blue aluminum at the base

The base of the building uses steel-blue metalwork, and its design was inspired by the Manhattan Bridge. The material itself is not steel but lighter and more corrosion-resistant aluminum shaped to mimic a muscular structural skeleton. Morris Adjmi Architects detailed the elements with angled arches to evoke the trusses and rivets of the iconic suspension bridge.

Morris Adjmi Architects looked to the Manhattan Bridge as design inspiration for the lower floors

Custom divided-light aluminum windows

The expansive divided-light windows are one of the building’s salient connections to DUMBO’s factory architecture. Made by Architectural Window Manufacturing, the 2,500 custom aluminum, divided-lite windows are arranged across the facade in a subtly irregular grid. The factory-style windows create more depth and shadow than flat glass walls, and from the inside, they frame views that evoke the feeling of being in an historic industrial building.

Typical divided-light window at Front and York

On each floor that the building increases in height, the masonry superstructure piers narrow in size, thus increasing the size of the windows. This design strategy culminates in floor-to-ceiling windows at the penthouse levels.

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Penthouse floors have floor-to-ceiling factory-style windows

White oak flooring

Front & York’s residences have chevron-patterned white oak flooring, a more involved and meticulous installation than standard straight plank floors. American white oak is widespread across the eastern United States, especially through the Appalachian region, Ohio Valley, and central hardwood forests. As a species, it is valued for its hardness, wear resistance, closed grain, and prominent medullary rays. For flooring, these qualities make it durable for daily use while still bringing warmth and texture to the homes.

White oak tree (Quercus alba) | Credit: Grow Billion Trees | https://growbilliontrees.com

White oak cabinetry and vanities

In addition to the flooring, white oak also appears in the kitchen cabinetry and bathroom vanities. The visual benefits of the wood is that it stains well and has a straight, architectural grain that works well for millwork because it can feel refined while remaining understated. In the kitchens, custom Italian white oak cabinetry is paired with integrated Gaggenau appliances and Caldia marble countertops and backsplashes. In the baths, custom Italian vanities help soften the marble-heavy palette.

Calacatta Caldia marble

Front & York kitchens use hand-selected Calacatta Caldia marble countertops and backsplashes. Caldia marble is quarried in the Rocchetta basin near Massa, Italy, in the Apuan Alps, one of the world’s best-known marble regions. Its quality comes from its crystalline white background and fine veining that come in various colors including mint green, gray, and brown. Overall, this marble is warmer and more interesting than a flat white stone.

Front & York’s material palette draws from DUMBO’s industrial history, from custom brickwork and divided-light windows to warm white oak and stone interiors.

Bianco Bello marble

Bianco Bello appears in the bathrooms as the main wall and bath stone. It is a white marble with light gray veining and is often described as complementing the look of Calacatta Gold and Statuary marble, but with a softer and more restrained presence. The stone appears in primary and secondary baths, with secondary baths using Bianco Bello in polished, honed, and hammered finishes, which adds subtle variation in texture.

Grey River marble flooring

Primary baths have radiant-heated Grey River marble floors laid in a chevron pattern. The design team specified a darker stone underfoot while keeping the wall marble lighter. The durable stone serves as a beautiful visual anchor beneath the brighter Bianco Bello marble walls.

Strada porcelain

Secondary bathrooms have Strada porcelain floors. According to the Tile Council of North America, porcelain is a ceramic material fired to be dense and low-absorption - having water absorption of 0.5 percent or less. This makes it well suited for bathrooms, where resistance to moisture, staining, and daily wear counts.

Secondary bath at Front and York

Cast-iron Waterworks tubs

Select primary baths include cast-iron Waterworks tubs, which is a more substantial than acrylic or fiberglass. Cast iron is heavy and durable, typically finished with an enamel interior. They are regarded as higher quality for their weight and durability.