Anyway, we're at 19 St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. The luxury rentals above the mall that includes Red Mango and Chipotle. Yeah, this one.
Have you ever noticed how nice the joint is up high?
That's where this apartment awaits your rent check. And, according to StreetEasy, this apartment first went on the market in October 2008 for $25,000.
Here's the listing:
This unique luxurious 2 br with office or 3 br penthouse is on a private floor (key lock elevator) in a prime East Village location. Spectacular city views grace every room from oversized windows. The living room with a WBFPL and the dining room have glass doors onto their respective large terraces. The windowed kitchen has a breakfast bar and top of the line appliances. The master bedroom has a large spa bath ensuite with a soaking tub and a separate shower and there are two additional bathrooms. This loft like home is brand new with highend finishes and a rare feeling of space, light and privacy. A gourmet market, major transportation and convenient shopping are steps away. Furnished only, flex lease term, pets on a case by case basis.
Of course, this is how it looked a few years back, before it was suburbanized in 2003....(Via Flaming Pablum)
You probably already know the history of this address...well, quickly via New York Songlines:
These buildings built in 1833 became a German musical club, later known as Arlington Hall. The hall was famous for a shootout in 1914 between Dopey Benny Fein's gang and Jack Sirocco's mob; Fein's managing to kill only one elderly bystander spelled the end of the Jewish mob's reign in the neighborhood.
The site became the Polish National Home, known as The Dom, which turned into a popular bar. Later the psychedelic Electric Circus, featuring Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable with the Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Blue Oyster Cult etc.
Here's a shot of Edie Sedgwick and Ray Wisniewski at the Dom from 1966 (Photo by Fred W. McDarrah/Getty Images).
And the exterior from 1966...
I have lived on this block for 32 years. Why anyone would pay that (any) amount of money to live on a noisy, garbage-strewn, overcrowded slop fest like this street is beyond me.
ReplyDeleteWhy do I do it? 300 bucks a month.
The next inhabitants of the apartment should like drunken street singing, the Tues. night "drumming circle" at 27 - don't even ask, and the periodic street shutdowns by Con Ed and film companies.
crazy that that glass house is atop this iconic building.
ReplyDeleteyeah, i was living on that block when i was only making ~$17,000/year, and i enjoyed every minute of it; one was surrounded by artists, musicians, etcetera; not one day went by where it was dull or bland moment. nowadays, not a day goes by where it is NOT a dull or bland moent. even if i could afford this place now, or if some benefactor is willing to pay my rent, i would not live there now.
ReplyDeleteChrist, I remember hanging on those steps 25 years ago, when literally everyone had a mohawk. The GAP was the beginning of the end for St Marks, and now the GAP can't even afford the rent.
ReplyDeleteI walk down this block nearly every day (and pretty much have for the past 20 years) and had no clue that luxury glass ice box sat on top of this building.
ReplyDeleteI guess I basically wasn't aware of anything above the second floor. I'm rather short and keep my eyes on the trashy sidewalk.
I used to believe the more things change the more they remain the same, but I'm not so sure anymore............
I've never noticed the mcmansion on top of this building either...they'd have to remove those ugly sword-things from the walls before I fork over my $17K.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should tell the diners who sit in the window with their legs spread at Chipotle to wear underwear.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteSomeone should tell the diners who sit in the window with their legs spread at Chipotle to wear underwear.
January 6, 2010 10:57 AM
Best. Comment. Ever.
Holy crap -- I had no idea there was an entire structure on top.
ReplyDeleteThe structure on top looks rather fake... it's as if the top of some condo blew off a fancy high-rise and landed here...
ReplyDeleteHoly crap, THAT is on top of a building on St. Marks?? Who knew? I could never imagine living on that block nowadays or even the last decade or so. ($300/month though, c'mon, that's a different story!) But still, the fact this exists on St. Marks, and types attracted to it.....Depressing.
ReplyDeleteLooked at an apartment there once a couple years back...the glass-top is made of lots of apts, not just the one penthouse. The apt I saw--a 1bd--was going for close to $3k/month. eh. But the entry art was fabulous.
ReplyDeleteAnd as far as the preservation/development balance goes (not that there is one)...I'd much rather have an out of sight, on-high add-on than that mini-mall on the bottom two floors.
f&*k chipotle, I would move here in a heartbeat just to have the Grand Sechuan right downstairs!! Spicy hunan beef anyone? Yes sir - every night of the week!
ReplyDeletePS thanks for interesting historical factiness about the bldg
Thanks for the comment, squirrel.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a hoax and you photoshopped in that house on top of the roof of what used to be the most interesting building on that street.
ReplyDeleteHa! True, Jill... It does look Photoshopped...
ReplyDeleteanonymus
ReplyDeleteI liked your 32 year description. That's why I don't get why people are against improving the neighborhood. If New Yorkers don't want suburbanization, then don't trash your place. Be an activist against squaller, instead of badmouthing the mayors. It's easy and cheap to put trash in a container.
The rents are outrageous. Still, it's better to have this building than the collapsing derelict structure that stood there before. And the Saint Mark's Market in the basement is excellent - good selection, very friendly staff, and 24 hours.
ReplyDeleteWe can do without the chains like Chipotle, and you can order Chinese food from Grand Sichuan in the fine tradition of Mao's home cooking. Of course we all want to eat in the style of one of history's greatest mass murderers. The first time I went in to eat there we were handed pamphlets on Mao and communism with our menus, and portraits of Mao surrounded us. That's not the kind of "cultural revolution" we need at Saint Mark's Place. That's about as appetizing as eating "Hitler's Home Cooking" or "Stalin's Favorite Recipes".
Saint Mark's is now a mall of awful frozen yogurt places and drunken NYU students urinating and vomiting in the streets. The saving grace is the variety of Japanese spots and what's left in the neighborhood of the Ukrainian community spots like Veselka and the Ukrainian National Home restaurant.
Saint Marxist
I lived in this building and Helen Mirren was renting that PH. It opens up right to the landing via a keyed elevator. And yes, if you think I'm full of shit, I thought the person that told me she rented it was full of shit too (an old actress on st.marks... in a rental?) but yep, I would see her coming and going from the PH for a few years.
ReplyDeleteGreat building with lots of good times had.