Wacko Deco

the Pink Panther strikes again? I can see Kato chasing Insp. Clouseau around that place

Looks promising

I kind of like it, to be perfectly honest. I'd like some personal insight and visuals regarding the former occupant and guests.

But moreover, this is a perfect case of what happens when someone tries to decorate in a way that he or she believes is authentic to the period, or "timeless", or "classic". They see the world, invariably, through the present day. And so you have this, the 1970s rendering of art deco, in 1970s colors and materials. Just as you can see exemplary 1960s hairstyles, makeup and clothing on Elizabeth Taylor in that great authentic period piece, Cleopatra.

God help us when we have the eye-to-brain ability to see all the "timeless" renovations of prewars throughout the UWS, the Village and beyond. We'll see them only as Martha Stewart for K-Mart atrocities. Timeless indeed!

Is that a mirrored ceiling in the kitchen? Geez, I wonder what went on in there? Thanks for the Pepto Bismol moment!

Maximizes riv vu & pk vu

alanhart, I got the name, but all I've found out is that she's 87 and has lived there from at least as far back as 1959.

Just finished that new Orson Welles book, where he goes on about how the hair and makeup always tell you in which decade a period picture was made.

Curbed loves it too: http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/08/14/barbies_upper_west_side_dream_apartment_listed_for_750k.php

Makes one wonder what was attached to those walls in the places that things were removed.

My guess is that occupant was huge Beatles (among other things) fan - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Strawberry Fields Foreover.

I love wrecks with decent bones. But does the math work out....

The last B lines sold around 860K - 875K in nice (not gorgeous, but nice) condition + finishes. This place is supposedly 885 sf, more like 825 in reality. For a really nice quality gut reno (and that's obviously what this will require), it'll be (all-in) a minimum $200 - $300 per s.f. Could be more, but that would be gilding the lily. So assuming $250 per s.f. x 825 sf = a reno cost of $200K.

Which means that this would normally (in nice condition) sell for $950K in today's market. Is that correct?

The price seems to be in the right ball park. If the coop is 25-30 percent down without outrageous liquidity requirements, I can see it selling for 1mm fully finished.

WOW! Can you just imagine???!!!...how cool would it be to take a trip back in a time machine and attend a cocktail party there. In a way I admire people who are able to throw all caution to the wind and just decorate/dress in a way that makes them happy - even if the taste is "questionable". What a fantasy someone was having!!!

Eh, change the pink to gold and slap on the name Trump.

The apartment was actually considered for some scenes in "Pretty in Pink", but no film speed could capture the color accurately.

However, it would serve perfectly well for a Pepto Bismol commercial, a la "Fantastic Voyage", with the living room representing a colon, with the floor as diarrhea & the walls representing said product on its way down to the rescue. Feh!

Seriously though: It's not too difficult to look beyond that, as I'm sure someone eventually will & really create a masterpiece.

It'll certainly be a challenge - but a fun one!

As far as the mirrored kitchen ceiling goes, perhaps it served to give the illusion of preparing double portions without actually doing so.

this is the apartment based on Kander & Ebb's Ring them Bells
there was a real Shirley

My friend in the building just sent me this:

"The woman who lived there is named Shirley Goldstein. She is an amazingly vibrant and wonderful lady -- a pianist -- but has had Alzheimer's for many years. The apartment was original designed by a great Deco interior designer, I believe, by the name of Dennis Abbey, who may have had something to do with the restoration of Radio City Music Hall. By all accounts, the apartment in its day was over the (Deco) top, and was often used as a setting for advertisements, but it's apparently all stripped down now. Ms. Goldstein also served as the model for Kander and Ebb when they wrote their Liza Minelli-recorded song, "Ring Them Bells," about a "girl" named Shirley who must travel round the world to meet the man nextdoor at "Number 5, Riverside." Kander and Ebb had met the extremely vivacious Shirley, and memorialized her in song, though the story as relayed in the song do not match her real- life details (there is no 29th floor at 5 Riverside and Ms. Goldstein lived in 8B!). She was always very proud to have had this song composed in her honor. The apartment as a result is charmed for anyone who will buy it."

Thanks, NWT - love it!

300 Mercer, as far as value, I won't say but I can tell you that the building is not 25-30 percent down with non-outrageous post-purchase liquidity requirements. The board is rather notorious for thinking itself a misplaced Park Ave building.

Oh yeah, one of those: Beekman Place Bourgeois in a Bensonhurst building...

NWT, my friend in the building sent "Wow-fun to see but what a mess."

Yours is way better.

ali

If she did not buy at the co-op conversion and remained a rent controlled tenant, would she have been able to have painted the walls pink?

Thanks, NWT!!

NWT - that's AWESOME! I loved reading that! What a fabulous story. That makes me want the unit all the more. Put a real smile on my face. :-)

08/14/2013 Listed by Corcoran at $750,000.
08/27/2013 Price increased by 7% to $800,000.
09/19/2013 Listing entered contract.
10/18/2013 Re-listed by Corcoran.

The story in the building is that there was a lot of interest (hence the $50K increase in the ask) and it went to contract for $870,000. The board turned the sale down, though, supposedly because the buyer already owns in the building, doesn't live there, is just waiting to do a combo, and wants to just sit on 8B until 8A becomes available. Some of that makes no sense, e.g. if there were multiple bids it should've gone to contract again already.

I'm pretty sure that buyer is a poster here, but she couldn't fill us in without blowing her cover, so there's no telling what really happened.

Every time this thread comes up, I think of the renovation aboutready did to her kitchen in Peter Cooper Village (later paid for by the lawsuit).

You are obsessed with me. Creepy.

So your contention is that the title of this thread - Wacko Deco - has nothing to do with you?

Yes. You might want to do a search to see what i did, although i know accuracy is not one of your concerns.

And only truth is more wacko than you and your multiple identities here.

So, wacko, you, yes?

you are not a fan of truth?

Please stop. You are embarrassing yourself.

Embarrassing myself by engaging with you?

By being you.

You don't fit into the equation at all?

I am not continuously bringing you up on random threads. You have a problem.

That's your medical or legal diagnosis?

Goodbye.

AR how is it that you take the high road with HB and call him out as a troll when you constantly engage him. Either don't engage him or stop pretending you are above it. And why are you picturing hb naked?

because she's wacko.

Ottawa - No! Please don't discourage their back and forth. Their exchanges make me smile and sometimes laugh out loud; again, hb vs ar is far more enjoyable than hb vs cc, which was, let's face it, a complete bore.

well thank goodness you straightened that out.

At the end of the day, me and AR, me and C0C0, we might not have everything in common and we might have an occasional disagreement, but we can still maintain our strong friendships and find areas where we can work together.

check out this one: http://streeteasy.com/building/2-sutton-place-south-new_york/12g?email=true

I like that ceiling. It was just a pied-à-terre for the sellers, so they could have fun with it and not have to live in it for long.

pied-à-terre or not...electric Kool-Aid acid test
case closed