Billing itself as a "
sculpture for living" with "museum quality architectural loft residences" (whatever that means), the Astor Place opened last year to a chorus of boos in the East Village. Situated on a Flatiron-esque oddly shaped lot, the site was previously a parking lot. Still, locals had hoped for a building that reflected the neighborhood, namely something mid-rise and traditional, but were horrified by the glass-curtain tower that arose. In May of last year, the
New Yorker architecture critic called Astor Place “an elf prancing among men with a garishly reflective façade channeling not Mies but Trump." Yee-owtch. Sales of the multi-zillion dollar apartments (which are neither coop nor condo, but some new hybrid called "condop") were so poor that
New York Magazine wrote an article called
"What Went Wrong At Astor Place?" Still, I noticed that it was Astor Place that all the tourists were photographing last weekend, largely ignoring the rest of the square.
Billing itself as a "sculpture for living" with "museum quality architectural loft residences" (whatever that means), the Astor Place opened last year to a chorus of boos in the East Village. Situated on a Flatiron-esque oddly shaped lot, the site was previously a parking lot. Still, locals had hoped for a building that reflected the neighborhood, namely something mid-rise and traditional, but were horrified by the glass-curtain tower that arose. In May of last year, the New Yorker architecture critic called Astor Place “an elf prancing among men with a garishly reflective façade channeling not Mies but Trump." Yee-owtch. Sales of the multi-zillion dollar apartments (which are neither coop nor condo, but some new hybrid called "condop") were so poor that New York Magazine wrote an article called "What Went Wrong At Astor Place?" Still, I noticed that it was Astor Place that all the tourists were photographing last weekend, largely ignoring the rest of the square.
