On New York's High Line park, starchitects like Zaha Hadid and Neil Denari have made a point of designing innovative buildings that are a dramatic departure, architecturally, from the neighborhood's warehouse and industrial roots. But a new rental apartment tower by billionaire Stephen Ross's Related Cos. intentionally does precisely the opposite.
Abington House, situated on the edge of Ross's new Hudson Yards redevelopment project, was designed to echo the look of the old industrial buildings that still grace the neighborhood. "The intention was not to make a new building that looked old, but a building that ties in to the existing and historic character of the neighborhood," says Daniel Lobitz, the partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects in charge of the project.
Design details that might give this impression: the exterior of painted steel beams against a backdrop as brick, the lobby featuring steel beams reminiscent of the High Line. “People have actually walked in here and said, 'Gee, we don’t remember this building being here. When did you start renovating it?'” says Daria P. Salusbury, head of luxury leasing operations for Related. "So when people think that it was an old building--that we were renovating it--you know that you've accomplished what you set out to do."
That approach to architecture--designing buildings to underline a neighborhood's history--is one of the hallmarks of Robert A.M. Stern Architects, and one of many concurrent architectural trends right now in New York. "It's intensifying because, more and more, preservation is becoming popular in culture," notes Eric Anton, managing partner at Brookfield Financial. "People move into a neighborhood and they want to know all about it."
Still, the effort does not strike everyone as successful. "This doesn’t look that original. It doesn’t seem to be that contextual," says Wayne Turett, a New York city architect who designed 15 Leonard Street, a boutique condominium development in historic TriBeCa. More contemporary buildings are coming up on the High Line, he notes. "And why not? My personal view is that we’re living in 2014, we should probably be designing things that reflect our current idea of art and design as opposed to mimicking things that came before us."
The two perspectives describe a contentious issue in architecture: whether it makes sense to try to fit to a neighborhood or whether it is best to move ahead. Of course, in New York much of this is dictated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, which oversees development in areas designated historical zones. Most of the area surrounding the High Line, including the Abington House, is free from such a designation.
Architectural issues aside, the 330-unit Abington House, which caps the second phase of the High Line park at its northern terminus, is a gateway to something entirely new. The tower overlooks Hudson Yards, Ross's $15 billion, 26-acre mega-development, New York's most ambitious private effort since John D. Rockefeller built the 22-acre Rockefeller Center in the 1930s. Renters will have a bird's eye view of the new neighborhood going up over the next ten years.
For that privilege, residents can pay $3,000 for a studio, $4,200 for one-bedroom, or $5,700 for a two-bedroom, Salusbury notes. Those prices are slightly less than the median rents for studios and one bedrooms in the surrounding neighborhood of West Chelsea ($3,172 for studios, $3,750 for 1-bedrooms, and $6,500 for 2-bedrooms, according to data provided by Streeteasy.com).
The building comes with a number of amenities, chief among them two party rooms that can be rented out. There is also a quiet room, right next to the Equinox-designed gym, and a slew of public art.
