The King of Central Park West, by Paul Goldberger (September 2008)
The highest-priced new apartment building in the history of New York—indeed, at roughly $2 billion in sales, the most lucrative in the world—isn’t a sleek, one-of-a-kind glass tower. It’s 15 Central Park West, an ingenious homage to the classic buildings on Park and Fifth Avenues where apartments have been snapped up by hotshot hedge-fund managers, financial titans, and celebrities.
Last Call, Bohemia, by Christopher Hitchens (July 2008)
Every successful society needs its Bohemia, a haven for the artists, exiles, and misfits who regenerate the culture. With the heart of New York’s West Village threatened by developers, London, Paris, and San Francisco have a message for Manhattan: Don’t do it!
Artist in Residence, by Ingrid Sischy (March 2008)
To the usual uproar—outrage, protests, eventual oohs and aahs—Julian Schnabel has planted “Palazzo Chupi,” a Pompeii-red palazzo, atop an early-20th-century factory building on the western edge of Greenwich Village. It may be the perfect expression of Schnabel’s life, constructed as the artist-director shot The Diving Bell and the Butterfly in France.
diller@gehry.nyc, by Paul Goldberger (June 2007)
The swooping, white glass wonder that has risen alongside the Hudson River is the meeting of two notoriously strong-willed minds. Barry Diller wanted his company’s new headquarters to make a statement—without costing a fortune—and Frank Gehry wanted to design a commercial building as exciting as his Bilbao and L.A. landmarks. Paul Goldberger explores the partnership behind Gehry’s first freestanding structure in New York City.
Boho Renaissance, by Paul Goldberger (March 2007)
Checking in at the Bowery Hotel.
Condos of the Living Dead, by A. A. Gill (October 2006)
An explosion of high-priced glass-and-steel condos is being marketed to New York’s new rich. Inspecting multi-million-dollar marvels of sterility, A. A. Gill wonders how any real living could possibly take place inside any of them.
The Gentleman Grafter, by Howard Kaplan (May 2006)
By night, Joe Ades dines with his fourth wife at exclusive restaurants, sips Veuve Clicquot at the Pierre, and goes home to a three-bedroom Park Avenue apartment. By day, he is something else altogether. At 72, the “peeler guy” in the Turnbull & Asser shirts is a New York legend.
Ruffled Feathers on Fifth Avenue, by Frank DiGiacomo (July 2005)
Prices for apartments in the 12-floor limestone co-op at 927 Fifth Avenue approach $20 million. Residents include Mary Tyler Moore, Paula Zahn, several Wall Street big shots, and two red-tailed hawks: the beloved Pale Male and his current mate, Lola. When the building’s board tried to evict Pale Male—removing his window-ledge nest—bird-lovers from Central Park and around the world swung into action.
Faulty Towers, by Vicky Ward (June 2004)
To some very wealthy architecture-lovers, including Calvin Klein, Nicole Kidman, and Martha Stewart, the idea was a dream come true—a customized apartment in one of two glass towers designed by the renowned Richard Meier. Four years later, the buildings have generated more nightmares than far less glamorous New York addresses: leaks, heating problems, security lapses, and endless construction.
Forever Modern, by Matt Tyrnauer (October 2002)
When Lever House arose in all its shining, sea-foam-tinted glory in 1952, on the neo-Renaissance corridor that was Park Avenue, the public and critics thrilled to a new symbol of American Modern. Fifty years later, as a $60 million restoration is completed, Matt Tyrnauer revisits the first all-glass International Style tower.
To Be a Rockefeller, by David Rockefeller (October 2002)
Legendary philanthropist and reviled Standard Oil “robber baron,” John D. Rockefeller was also the revered patriarch of 20th-century America’s premier dynasty. In an excerpt from his memoir, grandson David Rockefeller recalls a childhood in the shadow of that legacy, the saga of his father’s most precarious undertaking—Rockefeller Center, built in the midst of the Depression—and his own campaign to revive Wall Street by promoting that cruelly obliterated symbol of financial power, the World Trade Center.
Paris, New York, by Matt Tyrnauer (January 2000)
Even the streetwalkers in New York’s Meatpacking District are buzzing about the latest addition to the neighborhood: Keith McNally’s next hot spot, Pastis. Matt Tyrnauer tours an embryonic bistro on the still-wild western fringe of Greenwich Village.
Drama by Design, by John Richardson (December 1999)
When living around the corner from Mortimer’s got a bit too social, art historian John Richardson decided to pack up his paintings, his memories, and his work in progress—the third volume of an acclaimed Picasso biography. Finding a 5,000-square-foot loft on lower Fifth Avenue was just the beginning; Richardson’s change of address embodies all the bohemian drama that has marked his adventures in the art world.
Big Deal: How I Do It My Way, by Donald Trump (December 1987)
In this extract from his memoirs, New York’s smartest real-estate baron describes how he swooped down on two prime Central Park South sites, battled with the mayor, the zoning board, a group of elite tenants—and chalked up another $100 million.
