What is your East Village dream home?

Kind of a timeless topic to bring up during a slow news week holiday week. Had a conversation recently with an East Village friend... and somehow we started talking about our ideal East Village home. I quickly suggested one with two closets.

Not grand enough.

My friend said that he'd like to live in one of the apartments here at East 10th Street-Stuyvesant Street overlooking the Abe Lebewohl Triangle and St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery ... (Didn't Nicole Kidman's character live in one of these apartments in "The Interpreter"?)

Sure. Why not. Seems like a nice spot.

I've always had my eye on 421 E. Sixth Street between First Avenue and Avenue A.

According to Forgotten New York: "421 was a Con Edison substation built in 1920-21 that converted direct current to alternating. It is at present (2008) the studio of modern artist/sculptor Walter De Maria."

Off the Grid just had a post on this landmarked building, offering more background:

According to a 1919 Board of Appeals resolution, the “four-story fireproof transformer building” would accommodate a switchboard room, static air chambers, blower room and rotary foundations on the first floor; rotaries, transformer, and booster compensator on the second floor; a battery room on the third floor; and a high tension room and blower and exhaust chambers on the fourth floor. Three people would work on the first floor and two on the second.

I've never met anyone who has been inside. I'm not sure if any photos exist of the interior. Kinda "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"-ish.

So, for a moment, toss aside reality, like rent or practicality or heating bills ... or the fact that you'd be displacing, say, 50 residents or an entire church parish. (Not that this has stopped some developers ...)

This is your dream home! Where would you like to live?

A few ideas to start the process...

Maybe you'd want to live in the penthouse at the Christodora?

Or maybe the entire building!

Or maybe fix up the dilapidated secret theater inside 100 Avenue A?

[Kevin Shea Adams]

For people who with a lot of electronics, consider the Con Ed plant...

[Shawn Chittle]

Anyway, your turn...

Live like Keith Richards, Russell Simmons, Britney Spears...

On June 9, Curbed reported on the former Silk Building apartment that, through the years, Keith Richards and Russell Simmons owned. Most recently, Britney Spears sold it for $4 million. As Curbed noted on June 9, the new owner was trying to flip it for $6,595 million.

Well, the pad above 4th and Broadway can still be yours for $6,595 million. It was featured in the "homes of the week" section in the Post this past Thursday.

According to the Post:

Now you can live like a rock star, pop icon or music mogul! We mean that literally, insofar as this "exclusive" newly renovated penthouse in the Silk Building has been previously owned by Keith Richards, Britney Spears and Russell Simmons. There are four levels with three bedrooms - including a full-floor master suite with two bathrooms (out of 4½ total), a mini-bar, a sitting area with a wood-burning fireplace, hand-rubbed custom cherrywood closets and a private hidden entry door. The upstairs guest suite has a terrace with an "incredible" view of the Empire State Building. The condo is fully wired with a new Crestron smart-home system that controls all the lights, putting you in the mood no matter what music you listen to.

LES home of the week

From this week's real estate section in the New York Post. One of the "dream" homes of the week (descriptions are written by Victor Wishna):

$3.475 MILLION

A century ago, you might have found two or three families squeezed into one tenement apartment along this stretch of Norfolk Street. Today, you'll find the 16-story Blue, a sparkling new condo of "pixelated" blue glass, and at its top, this roomy 2,494-square-foot penthouse duplex. It features two bedroom suites, three full bathrooms, a designer kitchen, a large private terrace and "stunning" city, river and bridge views through 40 windows. My how times (and prices) have changed.

Meanwhile, go here to feel a little more Blue.