Archinect - News

Historic 190 Bowery to be Restored

2015-05-08T16:00:00-04:00

The six-story building was designed by Robert Maynicke and completed in 1899. It served as the offices of Germania Bank (and its future names) until it was sold in 1966 and became a private residence. In 2005, it was designated an individual landmark. Last year, it was purchased by Aby Rosen’s RFR Realty for $55 million. They plan to restore the building and convert it back to office space, with the ground floor for an as yet undetermined retail tenant.

In collaboration with MdeAS Architects, Jørgen Cleemann of the preservation architecture firm Higgins Quasebarth & Partners received approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission for their restoration plans. They aim to rehabilitate the stained glass, wooden doors, and other features of the building, while preserving the graffiti that ornaments the facade.

Editor's Picks #386

2014-09-25T11:58:00-04:00

Sean Smith continues his series, in which three architects discuss their transition from student to professional. Therein, Eric Höweler of Höweler + Yoon makes the point that much of running a firm is about finding work;

"In school everyone wants to be designers and have their own practice, but what most students don't connect is that having a practice is also being a businessman or woman – that you have to run a business which includes finding work, negotiating contracts and building consensus among people from different fields".

In Material Witness #4, Julia Ingalls explores how "In cinema, signage plays a duplicitous role".

News
NYC's historic 190 Bowery was part of a massive buy-up by developer RFR Holdings. Amelia Taylor-Hochberg, re-published a piece from 2008, for historical context. Fred Scharmen remembers "reading this when it originally posted. Thanks for putting it up again. Very sad that this unique space will be chewed up so that something not unique at all can take its p...

Geniuses, money and monuments: Weekly News Round-Up for September 15, 2014

2014-09-22T20:47:00-04:00

Saturday, September 20

NYC's historic 190 Bowery part of massive buy-up by developer RFR Holdings: RFR plans to spend upwards of $900M on property and land purchases by the end of 2014. One of its recent buys included the former "72-room bohemian dream house" at 190 Bowery.

Friday, September 19

MacArthur Fellow Rick Lowe Reclaims Urban Neighborhoods Through Art: Lowe is currently a resident at Philadelphia's Pearl Street Project, which aims at making dimly-lit alleyways more safe. He is also the founder of Houston's Project Row Houses.
Zaha Hadid launches luxury homeware range with Harrods: Pieces include a £9,999 serving platter, £43 cups and saucers, and £4,860 Field of Towers chess set.
Archinect is at the Salk Institute, covering the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture Conference: The three-day conference focused on topics in neuroscientific research that serve the architecture profession, including advances in mobile brain-computing interfaces and the neurological data behind...

NYC's historic 190 Bowery part of massive buy-up by developer RFR Holdings

2014-09-19T20:25:00-04:00

RFR plans to spend $250 million on Manhattan land purchases, up to $500 million on office building deals and $100 million to $150 million more on retailing properties — all before the end of the year. [...] Perhaps the most under-the-radar purchase was 190 Bowery... Developers have been trying for years to buy the six-story Renaissance Revival structure, which appears abandoned, with blocked-off doorways, boarded-up windows and graffiti covering nearly all of the lower facade.

For some more context on 190 Bowery, check out Wendy Goodman's 2008 profile of the family living there.

Life in the Bowery's 72-room "Bohemian Dream House"

2014-09-19T18:35:00-04:00

190 Bowery is a mystery: a graffiti-covered Gilded Age relic, with a beat-up wooden door that looks like it hasn’t been opened since La Guardia was mayor. [...] With the Bowery Hotel and the New Museum, the Rogan and John Varvatos boutiques, 190 is now an anomaly, not the norm. Why isn’t some developer turning it into luxury condos? Because Jay Maisel, the photographer who bought it 42 years ago for $102,000, still lives there, with his wife, Linda Adam Maisel, and daughter, Amanda.

This 2008 piece on 190 Bowery is being published for historical context, on the recent occasion of the property being sold to NYC developer, RFR Holdings.