? Back to top
? Previous: Planning Commission Joins the CPMC Approvals Party
? Back to top
? Previous: Planning Commission Joins the CPMC Approvals Party
It’s time to share my Three Cents Worth (3CW) on Curbed NY, at the intersection of neighborhood and real estate in the capital of the world…and I’m here to take measurements.
Check out today’s 3CW column on @CurbedNY:
Given all the hype about new development product entering the listing-starved Manhattan market over the next couple of years, I thought I’d take a look at the market share of co-ops and condos over the last decade (the boom and bust era), but in a different way. For the uninitiated, Manhattan co-op housing units outnumber condo units 3:1 (i.e. 75 percent v. 25 percent market share)…
[click to expand chart]
Today’s Post: Three Cents Worth: $3,000 is the new $1,500 in Manhattan [Curbed]
Three Cents Worth Archive Curbed NY
Three Cents Worth Archive Curbed DC
Three Cents Worth Archive Curbed Miami
America's preeminent traditionalist architect, Robert A.M. Stern was born 74 years ago today. Over the course of his 47-year career as an architect, Stern has drawn up the architecture for some of the country's most coveted real estate, designed contextual new construction for prominent colleges, been named dean of the Yale Architecture School, was awarded the National Building Museum's Vincent Scully Prize in 1998 and the prestigious Dreihaus Prize in 2001. In honor of the master architect's 74th birthday, Curbed has assembled some of the best—and worst—lines ever used to describe the master architect and his work.
The Man:
Then Architecture editor Reed Kroloff, on the occasion of Stern's 1998 appointment as Yale dean, called him, the "suede-loafered sultan of suburban retrotecture, Disney party boy and notorious academic curmudgeon."
That very same Reed Kroloff, nine years into Stern's tenure at Yale: "Bob Stern may be the best school of architecture dean in the United States."
"There are many faces of Bob," said architect Peter Eisenman, referring to his multifaceted, sometimes contradictory personality.
''Bob Stern has brought classicism into the public realm and the mainstream of the profession, reinvigorating it for generations to come,'' said Michael Lykoudis, Notre Dame's dean for architecture, upon awarding Stern with the 2011 Richard H. Driehaus Prize for Classical Architecture.
Acerbic, energetic and incredibly prolific, said Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin, who added that Stern's "free-wheeling formal approach has alienated purists across the aesthetic spectrum. Yet even his critics might admit that he's had a powerful impact on contemporary design."
"The Ralph Lauren of architecture," wrote the Times' Elisabeth Bumiller, distilling the view of his critics.
"I knew he was destined for greatness," said architect Philip Johnson, who served as Stern's professor at Yale. Though he added, Stern's work is ''not my dish of tea, architecture, like the house of the Lord, has many mansions.''
The Yale Alumni Magazine summarized the dismay of some with Stern's position on the board of Disney: "For Stern's detractors, his association with Disney...confirmed their assessment of him as less an architect than a scenographer, cynically mining the past for its nostalgia value instead of working to advance the cause of architecture.
"Like every serious architect, I was shocked by the appointment," said a Yale alumnus, who knew Stern as a student. "In my eyes, he's the Martha Stewart of architecture, and represents the commercial takeover of postmodernism. But on second thought, what's clear to me about Bob is that he has succeeded at everything he's ever done. The last thing he'd want to do is fail as dean of Yale."
"With Robert Stern you know what you're getting. He brings out the best in what has been tried and true," Gap Chairman Donald Fisher said, after selecting Stern to design the company's headquarters in San Francisco. "I don't like everything he's done—I didn't want it to be gingerbread and gimmicky—but I happen to like traditional architecture."
Ironically, Marisa Bartolucci of Metropolis magazine said of Stern, in response to the same project, "He's become a gimmick ... there's more to design than going through a catalog of historic styles and choosing which one suits you best."
"He's become to architecture what Ralph Lauren is to design, an impeccable brand name for traditional things that are well-made for people who are not looking to be at the cutting edge, but care very much about quality and also want to feel as if they are of this time," the architecture critic for the New Yorker, Paul Goldberger, said.
His Buildings:
The late Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp was quite satisfied with the Disney Feature Animation Building and claimed it "brings back the liberating spirit of play that prevailed in the early years of post-modernism, before the movement congealed into pompous historical poses."
Muschamp called Stern's design for the National Center for the American Revolution at Valley Forge "a lovely surprise," and attempted to explain Stern's break from tradition: "Critics like myself sometimes belittle Mr. Stern as a theme park designer, and the mind reels trying to figure out what he intends this building's theme to be. Jacques Derrida over Fallingwater, perhaps. Radical forms to commemorate a revolutionary past."
"I can't remember when I've heard so many people trash a new piece of architecture," Boston Globe architecture critic Robert Campbell said of Stern's Harvard Law School addition, calling it "a little pompous and a little dull," and adding, "maybe that's the image the law school wants to project."
"The loft is an apt metaphor for his personality," said Yale grad Mark Shafiri of Stern's New Haven pied-a-terre, ''The formal rooms in front are done up just as they should be as the home of a famous New York architect. Then in the back there's this grungy abandoned space that's stripped out and quite mysterious.''
The bloggers at Structure Hub summed up popular sentiment when they called Stern's design for the Bush Presidential Library, "okay, as far as presidential libraries go."
The New York Observer termed Stern a "money-minting godhead" in their reporting on his new design for a building near Manhattan's sprawling Hudson Yards development.
The Observer dubbed 15 Central Park West "The Most Successful Building of All Time." 'Nuff said, considering the place racked up more than $2B in sales for developers Arthur and William Zeckendorf.
Pallet sofas, pallet tables, pallet bookcases, pallet desks — we've seen it all. But here's something new just in time for all the outdoor entertaining you'll be doing this season: a pallet wine rack with glass storage. Brilliant!
Grab a heavy-duty pallet (one that has two inner pieces of wood, like above), a saw, a sander, and some screws, and in a few hours, you'll be sipping wine from your sweet new rack. Pass the rosé!
Visit Paula over at Virginia Sweet Pea for more photos and a step-by-step tutorial.(Images: Virginia Sweet Pea)
Have a nomination for a jaw-dropping listing that would make a mighty fine House of the Day? Get thee to the tipline and send us your suggestions. We'd love to see what you've got.
Location: New Hartford, N.Y.
Price: $750,000
The Skinny: Were this house located in the immediate suburbs of NYC, it would be worth at least seven-figures, if not much, much more. Instead, this immensely charming historic home is located in New Hartford, N.Y., outside of Utica, a four-hour drive from the Big Apple and an hour from Syracuse. For buyers who don't mind a long drive, this could be the bargain of the century. Built in 1928 at a reported cost of $200K, the 10,650-square-foot, 20-room mansion was constructed for artist Lee Jeffreys, an heir to the Domino Sugar fortune. Though neglected at the hands of some of its owners, the house has been recently restored to its original glory, including all eight bedrooms, seven bathrooms, seven fireplaces, vaulted library, and picture-perfect greenhouse. Despite all the time and money poured into the restoration, the house is asking a relatively reasonable $750K.
Arati Patel built a house in Greenville, SC in 2007, but when she was forced to move to Washington, DC for a new job, she knew she couldn't sell it for enough, so she put it up for rent. In the last several years, she had all kinds of trouble with tenants and even had to have one evicted.
"It was a bit of a nightmare because I don't live in Greenville...I have no desire to go back to Greenville because my life is in DC," says Patel. "It was a lot of coordination and I am still trying to collect over $2,000 from my tenants."
Patel finally ended up selling the home recently at a large loss. She didn't want to do a short sale because the process is long and risky, and she didn't want to damage her credit.
(Read More: Record High New Home Prices to Grow)
While there are no real estimates of how many "accidental landlords" now inhabit the housing market, Realtors say they are one more cause of today's low inventory issue. Usually a buyer is also a seller, making the transaction a wash in terms of inventory, but if the buyer is not a seller, and instead becomes a landlord, inventory takes a negative hit.
Home prices have been rising steadily, up over ten percent from a year ago, according to the latest reading from CoreLogic. Prices are still well below where they were during the housing boom, when so many people bought into the market.
As millions come above water, others are far below. Forty-eight percent of borrowers in Atlanta are underwater, 37 percent in Miami, 54 percent in Las Vegas and 37 percent in Sacramento.
(Read More: Homes Selling at Fastest Pace Since Boom)
It will take many years of price gains for these homeowners to see the light of equity.
You can visit Curbed as many times a day as you want, but you're busy. We get it. Did you know we can come to you? That's right, ladies and gents! Sign up below to receive the complimentary Curbed SF Newsletter, a beautiful daily summary of the hottest stories of the day. You can also add more Curbed to your life via Facebook, Instagram and the Twitter.
I love to be space-savvy, to not hoard stuff and to be clever about how I fit our family of four into our tiny apartment. However, sometimes, when I am trying to cook a big dinner with no bench space, or attempting to bathe my kids and getting a leg cramp since there's nowhere to sit, I need to remind myself: we chose this. We chose this, and this is why:
Living where we are, we have more family time. We are close to my husband's work and the grad school where I study. Both of us can be home within 5 minutes. We are happier without transit time in bad traffic. In fact, my husband rides his bike to work and I often walk to class. Straight after class I can run home and cuddle my kids: no waiting necessary. It's awesome.
The size of the place we have chosen means we live within our means. Our city is expensive. We couldn't live here, or anywhere else near here, in a bigger place and still be able to make our budget work. By choosing a small space we are debt-free, we give money to people who need it more than we do, and save a little money every week. We have a buffer should anything happen to our finances. We feel at peace about our bank account, and that brings a peace into our home.
Money saved on housing means we can lead adventurous lives. We can travel overseas, go to see bands, the theater, take the kids to a butterfly farm. We can eat out and try new kinds of foods, we can go crazy at a local art auction and buy a painting we really love at the last minute. Wacky, spontaneous adventures are okay, they are something we have space for in our budget, because it's not being sapped by our housing costs.
Sure, a bigger place would mean we could stretch out, have more time to ourselves, and the kids would have more space to play. But why do we need those things? Is it for family harmony? We get that by being together because Mom and Dad can come home from work and school before 5 every day. Do we need space for peace? We have that because we are not over-extending ourselves. Are bigger places necessary for families to have more fun? No, actually they aren't - not if we go looking for that fun outside our home.
The fact is, even if my knees get tired and squished in the bathroom, all that I need is here: in these miniscule square feet that surround me. My husband, my kids, and a happy, peaceful life full of fun and togetherness. I chose it, and it is good.
Do you live in a small space with your family? What made you choose to do this?
(Image: Alison Gerber)
Do you love the look of Swedish Mora clocks? If you know your way around power tools, you can make this sleek statement piece for just $75. Remodelaholic has a great step-by-step tutorial.
With new and vintage Moras costing thousands, spending a weekend to build your own is a good deal if you have the skills. This super cool clock project isn't for beginners, but Justin and Cassity give clear instructions, and even provide the pattern they created.
For the full tutorial and more photos, visit Remodelaholic.
(Images: Remodelaholic)
It's quite clear that the San Francisco rental market is hot, hot, hot right now, so here at Curbed we're going to bring you a bevy of rental properties each week for your perusal. This week we looked for the least expensive rentals we could find without resorting to sharing a bathroom. Studios for under $1,500 are becoming hard to find, but we found some cuties. With the median price for a one bedroom rising rapidly, a studio's probably your best bet if you're on a tight budget.
Glen Park: This studio on Laidley Street is cute as a button and will cost you $1,500. Normally we shy away from garden apartments, but this one has huge windows letting in lots of light while exposed beams and painted wood floors give the illusion of more vertical space. The kitchen is nothing to write home about but fine for light cookers and is unobtrusive. We love the garden and that you can walk to Glen Park Village and BART. [craigslist]
Tenderloin: As you might expect, there are some cheaper studios in the part of town. This one for $1,500 caught our eye because it's got cute "I live in San Francisco" features like a fancy round bay window, kitchen built-ins, and a clawfoot tub. The location is great for barhopping or concert-going, and you'll get great 38-Geary stories to tell your friends. [zumper]
Tenderloin: This light and bright studio is a "steal" at $1,325 per month and is located on Ellis and Hyde. It's already got a handy loft for making your "bedroom" a little separate, and has really nice-looking hardwood floors. The building has laundry, but that's about it. [zumper]
· Laidley at Roanoke [craigslist]
· 890 Geary [zumper]
· 360 Hyde [zumper]
Despite the strong gains, home prices are still down approximately 28-29 percent from their peaks in the summer of 2006 and are now back at levels not seen since late 2003.
While prices continue to improve, there are still headwinds, specifically a relatively weak employment picture and a tight mortgage market. Existing home sales are also recovering far faster than new home sales, and much of the gains in new home construction is in multi-family apartments, as single family housing starts lag.
(Read More: Record High New Home Prices to Grow)
"Housing is making a positive impact on the economy, if one goes through the GDP numbers, residential construction is adding to economic growth," said Blitzer. "But when you look at this, buying and selling existing homes, is recognized, we all feel good, the prices are going up, it doesn't add anything to GDP."
—By CNBC's Diana Olick; Follow her on Twitter @Diana_Olick or on Facebook at facebook.com/DianaOlickCNBC
Questions? Comments? RealtyCheck@cnbc.com
Public spaces change fast here in San Francisco, and for better or worse, it can be pretty crazy when you see what the City used to look like. Every week, we'll bring you Then & Now, a comparison of historic photos of the Bay Area with current views from the same perspective. Have a suggestion for a photo comparison that looks totally different (or shockingly the same)? Drop us a tip in the Curbed Inbox or leave a comment after the jump.
Quick note: See that vertical green bar in the middle of the then and now photos? You can move it horizontally to see the photos side by side.
[1929 Then photo: SAN FRANCISCO HISTORY CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY/ Now photo: Google Maps]The Barbary Coast has a raucous history, full of saloons, brothels, and shaghaiing. The area now known as Jackson Square was comprised of places of ill-repute, with the block of Pacific between Montgomery and Kearny infamously referred to as "Terrific Street." When the Barbary Coast was essentially shutdown in 1917, the Hippodrome remained, along with it's plaster casts of, uh, very friendly nymphs and satyrs.
The area known as the Barbary Coast occupied what is today Montgomery to Stockton along Pacific Street, with branches off into Kearny and Grant. Most of the area was destroyed in the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, but the businesses that rebuilt were quick to pick up where the old debauchery had left off - only this time they focused on glamour and entertainment. Instead of divey saloons, think nightclubs with dancing girls.
Interior of the Moulin Rouge nightclub in the Barbary Coast, 1911 [SAN FRANCISCO HISTORY CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY]
555 Pacific was such a place, going through multiple iterations of clubs and dance halls. The existing building is pretty much a reconstruction of a saloon that was there before the earthquake, but was known as the Red Mill, later renamed in French to Moulin Rouge in attempts to class up the joint. The exterior was covered in plaster reliefs of satyrs chasing naked wood nymphs. By the late 1930s, the Hippodrome moved into the spot.
Hippodrome nightclub, undated [SAN FRANCISCO HISTORY CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY]
The building was again restored in the 1940s, when the area got a bit of a Barbary Coast revival in time for the sailors of WWII. By the 1960s, the Hippodrome was briefly resurrected on Broadway. Romanticism of the Barbary Coast days in the 1970s created the Jackson Square local historic district, and the old Hippodrome building was listed as a contributor on both the local district listing and the National Register of Historic Places. Today the location has been retrofitted for the Artist & Craftsman Supply store.
· Barbary Coast [Found SF]
· Historic Walks in San Francisco: 18 Trails Through the City's Past [Rand Richards via Google Books]
· The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld [Herbert Asbury via Google Books]
· Jackson Square Historic District National Register of Historic Places nomination [NPS]
[click to watch video]
Just catching up here on Matrix – had a great visit with Christine Romans on CNN’s Your Money a week ago. Also go to meet Rana Foroohar, Assistant Managing Editor at Time Magazine (sitting next to me but not in the clip) who interviewed me for her column “The Housing Mirage. Good stuff.
4044 Folsom in Bernal Heights just hit the market asking $1,195,000. The 3-bed, 2.5-bath, 1,720 square foot abode was recently seriously gutted and remodeled to bring it up to today's modern standards. Property highlights include a tricked out kitchen with a Bertazzoni stove and range hood, Bosch dishwasher, quartz countertops, and two-toned euro style custom cabinetry. There's also a great private deck and backyard. Want to check it out in person? It's hosting open houses this weekend.
The idea behind this post sounds like a no-brainer, but sometimes it can take a while to really be aware of your habits and needs. My ironing board, a simple thing, is the perfect example.
The washer and dryer are on the second floor of my row house, and my bedroom is on the third floor. For nearly two years, my ironing board lived near the former, on the inside of my laundry closet door. I guess I associated clean clothes with pressed ones, and there the board stayed.
Then, a week or so ago, I was standing in front of my closet trying to decide what to wear to work, and I realized how silly I'd been. (I'm pretty sure my palm went to my forehead.) I moved the board, iron, and spray bottle to inside my bedroom closet door; now that I don't have to run between floors to iron, I already do this simple task much more often. and have also have been tapping into a lot more of my wardrobe. Success!
Has this ever happened to you?
(Image: Kim R. McCormick)
Photo via Gizmodo
· Epic Brooklyn mansion nears completion after 10 years of headaches. [Curbed NY]
· The radically .gif-able furniture by OMA and Knoll. [Architizer]
· Bill Murray lowers rental price for his NYC pad. [The Real Deal]
· Why you can't be blasé about the next world's tallest building. [The Atlantic Cities]
· 15 photographs of the superstructures that put us in space. [Gizmodo]
· The wings were removed from Zaha Hadid's Olympic aquatics centre. [Dezeen]
· The loveliest and most monumental architecture school buildings. [Architizer]
· A house call with London's accidental decorator Adam Bray. [Remodelista]
· Kat Von D lists gothic Los Angeles mansion for $2.5M. [Trulia Luxe Living]
· Zaha Hadid wins European Museum of the Year award. [Arch Daily]
? Back to top
? Previous: On His 74th Birthday, Great Lines About Robert A.M. Stern
? Next: Hasselhoff Wire
Sign up for our newsletterFollow Curbed National Curbed Tiplinenational@curbed.comAdvertise with ussales@curbed.com | Media kitMonthly archivesSelect month...May 2013April 2013March 2013February 2013January 2013December 2012November 2012October 2012September 2012August 2012July 2012June 2012May 2012April 2012March 2012February 2012January 2012December 2011November 2011October 2011September 2011August 2011July 2011June 2011May 2011April 2011March 2011February 2011January 2011December 2010November 2010October 2010September 2010August 2010All archivesFrom our partners Your browser doesn't support frames. Please visit Zillow Home Page to see this content. MORE REAL ESTATE ON ZILLOW Preferences Open external links in new tabs? Curbed SkiFun With Urban Planning300 Square Foot Gallery Opens "Local Serving" Business DebateCurbed NYArchitecture 101Imagining a More Protected Coney Island of the FutureCurbed MiamiCurbed MapsAn Architectural Walking Tour Of Beaux Arts Downtown MiamiGet daily updates and breaking news alerts from Curbed National delivered straight to your inbox:Curbed NationalCurbed AtlantaCurbed BostonCurbed Cape CodCurbed ChicagoCurbed DCCurbed DetroitCurbed HamptonsCurbed LACurbed MiamiCurbed NYCurbed PhillyCurbed SeattleCurbed SkiCurbed SFEater NationalEater AustinEater AtlantaEater BostonEater CharlestonEater ChicagoEater DallasEater DCEater DenverEater HoustonEater LAEater LouisvilleEater MaineEater MiamiEater MinneapolisEater NOLAEater NYEater PDXEater PhillyEater SeattleEater SFEater San DiegoEater VegasRacked NationalRacked BostonRacked ChicagoRacked LARacked NYRacked PhillyRacked SFAbout Curbed NationalCurbed app for iPhonePrivacy policyTerms of serviceContest rulesAdvertisingJobs ×