175 West 10th Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 175 West 10th Street by Carter Horsley

This very handsome, 7-story, red-brick residential condominium building at 175 West 10^th Street in the heart of the Greenwich Village Historic District is a stunningly complex composition by BKSK Architects and the stylistic son of the firm’s light-colored masterwork at 25 Bond Street, the city’s most glorious “modern” block.

Both buildings juggle their fenestration patterns with considerable elegance that results in impressive and memorable architectural compositions.

The building was developed in 2016 by Continental Ventures, Itzhaki Acquisitions and Greystone Property Development.

Despite its large presence on Seventh Avenue South, the building contains only five condominium apartments.

The building replaced the one-story Veranda Restaurant that was erected in 1937 with an address of 130 Seventh Avenue South.

It has convenient public transportation and is close to many restaurants and boutiques.

Bottom Line

Floor-through residences with angled plans and a richly textured brick façade at a very prime location in the West Village.

Description

The building lobby has blackened steel, polished brass and Gascogne Blue Hones and Litho Pietra D’avola limestone floors.

The building has many slit windows and a sixth-floor roofline that is “topped with a late ribbon of gray-colored metal – a modernist riff on the elaborate cast-iron cornices in the area,” according to a March 11, 2016 article by Jane Margolies on the building in The New York Times.

Amenities

The building has Luxury Attache concierge services, a virtual doorman, a live-in superintendent,

Apartments

Apartments have 10-foot-high ceilings, steel-framed windows, open kitchens, dishwashers, Calacatta Gold polished marble kitchen countertops, in-unit washers and dryers.

The lower level of the two-bedroom duplex penthouse has an entry foyer that leads to a large living/dining room with an open kitchen with an island next to an angled terrace and there is another terrace at the north end of the floor.  The upper level has a bedroom, a study and three terraces.

Apartments on the 3^rd through the 5^th floors have three bedrooms and a 8-foot-entry foyer that leads into a 30-foot-wide angle living/dining room next to a 14-foot-long kitchen with an island that leads to a small solarium with a small balcony. 

History

The developers acquired the site in 2012 for $6.2 million and hired IBI Group Gruzen Samton to design the project.

According to the Times article the Landmarks Preservation Commission objected to the height and industrial look of the project and according to an account at ny.curbed.com some residents were concerned that the building would steal “sunlight from an inner-courtyard that is used by many families.”  The Gruzen/Samton design has a red-brick façade with large factory-style multi-paned windows at the north end and a glassy façade with some balconies at the south end, all topped with two glassy penthouse levels.

Some speakers at the commission criticized the design as “monolithic” and like a “glacier.”

The developers changed architects and commissioned BKSK to come up with a new design. 

“BKSK also ran into resistance when it presented to the commission its initial version, which had seven stories and a glassy façade  ‘They told us to trim the height,’ said George Schieferdecker, a partner of BKSK, ‘and go back and think harder about the masonry context of the site.’  The architects did just that, knocking off a floor and adding details that ‘hint at’ the historic buildings of the area, Mr. Schieferdecker said.  In 2014, the commission signed off on a design for a triangular building with chamfered corners and an entrance on the intersection with West 10^th Street,” the article noted.