Constructed within a previously unoccupied four-story penthouse structure at the summit of one of the earliest surviving skyscrapers in New York City, SkyHouse is an experientially immersive residence suspended in the vertical cityscape of Lower Manhattan.  

The original penthouse –completed in 1895- was essentially a hollow ornament for the skyline.  The quartet of enormous carved angels spreading their wings across the four corners of the penthouse beneath a steep hipped roof bristling with chimneys and dormers was essentially an advertisement for the publisher of religious pamphlets which commissioned the original building.  When architect David Hotson first encountered the penthouse over eleven decades after its completion, the interior was a raw shell, with oddly configured partial floors and no services other than an industrial gas heater and the minimal bathroom and kitchenette required for it to be sold as a residential condominium unit. Only the original riveted steel structural frame, the arched windows and the upward tapering volume of space under the enormous roof provided evidence of the late 19th century when the building was built. 

These few elements from another era established one pole for a residential interior otherwise anchored unmistakably in the present.  The owners wanted a residence that was rigorous yet playful, uncompromising in the precision of its conception and execution, yet filled with spatial surprises which continually refresh the experience of living at the summit of a skyscraper surrounded -above and below- by the extraordinary vertical cityscape of Manhattan.

In transforming this raw 19thcentury shell into a 21stcentury residence, David Hotson Architect restructured the complex interior volume of the penthouse to create multi-level living spaces distributed between four levels and an intricate web of pathways and vistas passing between the interior levels of the apartment and out into the surrounding cityscape.

SkyHousewas the recipient of an international Architizer A+ Award, an ID Best of Year Award, and a Best in 10 Award which honored SkyHouseas the best large apartment project of the ten-year history of the Best of Year Awards.