Frank Sinatra once paid $1 million a year for a suite at the hotel Waldorf Astoria. Now its new owner is banking on the hotel’s glamorous past to sell luxury condos. First pictures of the conversion have now been published. It’s been more than two years since the famed Waldorf-Astoria Hotel shut its doors in preparation for its transformation into a hotel/condo hybrid, and in that time, much has changed in New York’s luxury real estate market. A one-time mansion tax has high-rollers on edge, and a glut of unsold condos (particularly the more expensive ones) is making developers nervous. But ..read more

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, at least for architecture and design aficionados. October is Archtober—or Architecture and Design Month. For 31 days, the City’s design community opens its doors for more than 100 tours, lectures, films and celebrations, offering behind-the-scenes peeks at the buildings that give this metropolis its distinct character. Archtober just began, and we’re only a few weeks out from the 2019 Open House New York weekend, taking place October 18-20 across all five boroughs. During the three-day event, hundreds of architectural sites and cultural venues will op ..read more

Water towers have become a ubiquitous part of New York City’s skyline. You never have to look up more than a few blocks to spot one of the roughly 15,000 tanks perched on top of a roof. New York gets its water supply from reservoirs north of the city. The water from these reservoirs is able to travel up to six floors without a problem. As buildings began to rise higher than six floors in the 1800s, it became necessary to add water towers to buildings. The water could be pumped, stored and distributed to floors beyond six stories. There are three water tower manufactures in the city – all of ..read more

Over the past 20 years, we have seen Manhattan’s West side waterfront change dramatically with the completion of Hudson River Park, the High Line & the massive development project Hudson Yards. As new architectural marvels have gone up, so have green parks and playgrounds that bring everyday life to the waterfront. And now, Hudson River Park (the second largest park in Manhattan) is set to get another new feature: A beach! It will be a first for the island. Here’s a sneak peak of the new Gansevoort Peninsula Park, which will make its debut in 2022. The 5.5-acre park, which used to be th ..read more

Throughout the 20th century, gantry cranes were used to transport people and goods to/from barges and ships along New York City’s coasts. At the time that the gantries were built, manufacturing jobs were drawing people from across the world to the Big Apple. As the city slowly became industrialized and more bridges were built, trucks became the main means for moving goods around. Consequently, gantries went out of use by the 1980s. Today, you can still spot a few gantries along the city’s waterfront. Two of them are located in Gantry Plaza State Park in Long Island City and were originally b ..read more

Most people who have explored New York’s history a bit have heard of The Great Fire of 1835. One of the most devastating fires in the city’s history, it destroyed nearly 700 buildings (including the New York Stock Exchange) in Lower Manhattan, in an area known as the Financial District today. The devastating fire had a huge impact on the city’s development. City planners changed the laws to make new buildings safer, and 23 of 26 insurers at the time were forced to close due to the huge financial losses. Located in Lower Manhattan at that time was a now little-known tiny neighborhood called ..read more

Manhattanhenge has become almost as world famous as New York City itself over the past years. If the name doesn’t ring a bell and you are wondering what it might actually be, here’s a little insight. The name Manhattanhenge is inspired by Stonehenge: the circle of stones in England which are believed to have been built to align with the sun’s movement. During Manhattanhenge, Manhattan’s street grid aligns with the sun to create a beautiful spectacle. The street grid in Manhattan doesn’t perfectly run north-south and east-west because – everything is rotated roughly 29-degrees clockwise due t ..read more

Ferry service in NYC began in 1817 with trips between Staten Island and Manhattan. With 23.9 million passengers each year, the Staten Island Ferry it is the busiest ferry route in the United States and the world's busiest passenger-only ferry system. After 200 years, the city has introduced 6 additional ferry routes and expanded service to all five boroughs. This translates to 4 million more passengers on the East River each year. Though the public ferry can get crowded during the summer months, locals and visitors agree: It’s the most scenic (and sometimes fastest) way to get around and the ..read more

One of New York’s most anticipated hotel openings this year was the TWA hotel at JFK Airport. The former TWA terminal, designed by architect Eero Saarinen in the 1960s, has now been converted into a 512-room hotel while retaining its mid-century flair. As of May 15, guests have been checking-in pre or post flight to enjoy this revived New York City gem outfitted with design pieces by the likes of Richard Eames, Isamu Noguchi & Saarinen himself. The flight center building, which has been transformed into the hotel lobby, features shops, a reading room, a fitness center and other special ..read more

The High line turned 10 this year! Join us as we look back at the history of one of New York’s most cherished parks: In the mid-1800s 10th Avenue was branded “Death Avenue” because of the numerous accidents caused by freight train crossings on street level traffic. To address this problem, the city created a 13-mile-long elevated railroad, which became known as the High Line. Between 1934 & 1980, the elevated trains transported meat to the Meatpacking District, milk & produce to factories and warehouses on Manhattan’s West Side, as well as mail to the main Post Office on 34th Street ..read more