Beckford House and Tower (Renderings credit: Noe & Associates with The Boundary
The Upper East Side has a century-long history of providing the finest residential buildings in the country — if not the world. The neighborhood's latest high-end offering where no expense was spared to provide well-heeled New Yorkers an exquisite urban lifestyle is called Beckford House & Tower, a two-building condominium project dressed in traditional architecture while providing all the bells and whistles a city dweller could hope for. Confidently anchoring two separate corners on the Upper East Side, the still in-construction project stands on Second Avenue with "the Tower" on East 80th Street and "the House" on East 81st Street.
Sales have officially begun on the development's 104 graciously-sized apartments which are being brought to market by Icon Realty Management.
Homes start at $2.495 million for a two-bedroom, $3.975 million for three-bedrooms, $5.85 million for four-bedrooms, and $9.95 for five-bedrooms.
The entryway to Beckford Tower along tree-lined East 80th Street (Renderings credit: Noe & Associates with The Boundary
Beckford House lobby (how sublime)
In contrast to the Upper East Side’s white-brick and glass Modernist high-rises that have begun to crowd many of the classical apartment houses that preceded them, the 19-story Beckford House and 29-story Beckford Tower take cues from the neighborhood’s sumptuous pre-war buildings. William Sofield of award-winning Studio Sofield clad the pair of buildings in textured Indiana limestone and custom blend gray brick. They read as a modern take on Rosario Candela’s 1929 co-op at One Gracie Square. Sofield, an ELLE Decor A-List interior designer and architect, specified floors laid in white oak, kitchens with custom millwork by Christopher Peacock, statuary marble countertops and backsplashes, and appliances by Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Miele. Windowed master baths are clad in floor-to-ceiling white statuary marble and come with ideally-placed Kohler bathtubs fitted with Lefroy Brooks polished chrome fixtures.
Graciously-scaled great rooms (Renderings credit: Noe & Associates with The Boundary
Homes have formal dining rooms
Master bedroom
Sofield found fitting within the Upper East Side's historic context to be an issue of utmost importance. ELLE Decor quotes the designer as he explains, “I really was trying to incorporate what I felt were the more charming details of the neighborhood. A building is the story of the people who inhabit it. The role of the architect is simply to give them the space in which to live the story out.”
The architect’s attention to the self-stated mission is evident in the degree of craft provided in the final product. The studio recruited artisans from across the nation to provide bespoke interiors throughout. Formal entry parlors, separate dining rooms, 9.5 to 11-foot ceilings, and gridded, vertical windows emulate grand pre-war apartments, such as those seen in the nearby East End Avenue enclave by the Carl Schurz Park.
Beckford Tower exterior and entryway (Renderings credit: Noe & Associates with The Boundary
Beckford Tower reception area
Beckford Tower has the common swimming pool
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The 29-story Beckford Tower, the taller of the pair, rises at the corner of Second Avenue and East 80th Street. The building offers condos that range from one to six bedrooms, as well as three penthouses within its setbacked pinnacle. A canopied, Art Deco-flaired entrance leads into a double-height, round-the-clock attended lobby with a floor clad in Atajia Azul and Wallace Creek limestone, lacquered walls, and a vintage chandelier imported from Europe. Similar finishes decorate the double-height sitting room and windowed library, with fireplaces in both spaces.
The Tower also offers a lounge with a grand piano, a fitness center with a basketball half-court, yoga and training studios; a 65-foot swimming pool with steam rooms, a hot tub, and several seating areas clad in mosaic and stone. Additionally, there is a Roto-designed children’s playroom with a rope bridge; a game room featuring table tennis, billiards, and foosball; a party area with a catering kitchen; and more. The building also offers a laundry room, a service entrance for move-ins and deliveries, bike parking, additional storage compartments, and cold storage.
Rendering showing the crown of Beckford House on East 81st Street (Renderings credit: Noe & Associates with The Boundary
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The 19-story Beckford House stands a block north on East 81st Street. The sibling takes after its bigger brother in many ways, yet maintains a distinct personality with an asymmetric pinnacle, a grand entrance flanked by a pair of sconce globe pendants, a lobby clad in Tennessee Marble Quaker Gray flooring in a honed Fleuri-Cut finish, Etruscan Rose Stone, and antique mirrors. The reception and sitting rooms are reminiscent of those in the Tower, albeit with their own flair, as well as the 1,745-square-foot fitness center, laundry room, and storage. The House may not have a swimming pool to match that in the Tower, yet it manages to outdo its sibling by offering an 1,811-square-foot, landscaped roof deck with a Viking grill, a kitchen outfitted with a fridge and a wine cooler, and several areas for dining and lounging. The building’s relatively small footprint means that each floor holds just one to three residences, which grow fewer in quantity as the building rises.
Every year, the New York skyline adds shards of glass, soaring supertalls, and minimalist modern, Zen-like edifices that push the boundaries of contemporary design and engineering. At Bedford House & Tower, Studio Sofield offers to revive a time-tested, tradition-minded approach that combines the best of yesteryear living with the latest perks a New York condo can offer.
Beckford House in August 2019
Beckford Tower in August 2019
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