New NYC condos are so ugly

ruffus, we missed you.

Yes, 15 CPW is ugly, that's what they say.

This guy couldn't be more obviously Rufus if he tattooed a big "R" on his forehead...

And for God's sake -- enough with the "open kitchens" already! If I'm going to pay 3/4 of a million or more for an apartment, give me a proper KITCHEN, not a glorified wet bar in the living room.

NYCMatt, your point is well taken. However, for the uninitiated, it is never correct to agree with anything that quantum/rufus posts. It's one of those truisms, like all white chicks think Jon Stewart is God. Doesn't matter if there are exceptions, it's just the rule.

Yeah NYCMatt, the concept of creating an altar to subzero that dominates the entertaining space eludes me. Specially, considering that NY is takeout city, unlike southern France... I guess they took this idea from the lofts, where there was no separate place for the kitchen, or the mc mansions, with kitchens open to playrooms so mom can see the children while cooking. I don't mind seeing the kitchen, but, please, with some degree of separation, at least a partial wall, something that will hide the mess, anyway...

Nah. When I'm in my LIVING room, I don't want to see my kitchen appliances, regardless of how much I paid for them. The kitchen should be its own separate room, complete with swinging door and porthole window the way God Intended.

Matt, are you a chef by chance? I was with you until the porthole.

No, I'm not a chef. But I do cook my own meals and do a fair amount of baking. There's a reason why kitchens were always separate from the living areas: food preparation is messy! Greasy steam, moist heat, and flour "puffs" should not be wafting onto my living room furniture, stereo equipment, and library.

I'm going to have to go with matt on this one...minus the porthole(nice touch). As a matter of taste, I am not a big fan of the open 'pretend loft style' kitchen/dinning/living room. That was my first apartment but, it was called a crappy one bedroom.
What can I say, to each...his own.
Wafting flour puffs you say?
extraordinary!

If they put a wall up between our kitchen and living room, we would notice how small our apartments are and move to Jersey. I think it's in everyone's best interest that we just accept the 'open kitchen.'

It's inevitable! No matter how carefully you add the flour to the mixer, there's always a "puff".

They need the open floor plan so you will forget that you have a 12x18 "living/dining room." Definitely not for me.

yes to all the above, but the sublime is when you can have the 18x15 separated kitchen so the little missus (or mister) can cook with some loved ones around, sip some wine with friends in eye and earshot, and not be stuck in a galley kitchen. Alas, few of us can attain such lofty dreams.

See, I like the open floorplan because I get to watch TV while cooking. I need my Masterpiece Theater episodes.

"They need the open floor plan so you will forget that you have a 12x18 "living/dining room."

DING DING DING!!!!

You win the prize!

We've tried it all different ways - open kitchen, separate, on a different floor, with the bedroom off of it - and we now have an open kitchen that we love. The two keys are 1) great ventilation, and 2) a high enough counter to block the mess. Also 3) you really have to keep it clean. A plus for me, because otherwise I'd spend all my time here on SE. Off to do the dishes!

Tina
(Brooklyn broker)

And not just a 12x18 living/dining room, but kitchen appliances squashed at one end of that "living/dining room", a la the "open kitchen".

Back in Pittsburgh, we called them "efficiency apartments".

Well, Matt, space is not what one comes to New York for. I've had both the separate kitchen and the open kitchen; I'll take the open kitchen any day. Just not at the expense of my living room space.

Good point NYCMatt.

I love cooking meat. I hate the smell of meat in my living room.

My wife says that if, on the other hand, we had a closed off kitchen, she would not cook at all. She doesn't want to be isolated.

Who is rufus? Why is he always wrong?

Ah, Harlem, rufus is a slightly deranged rejected Columbia student who had to settle for a second choice school. His revenge is posting periodically but relentlessly about how everything in New York sucks: the buildings are ugly. The people are rude. And so on and so forth. He's a huge advocate of Chicago, which for those of us with Chicago connections (like having grown up there or near there) is quite hilarious. Search the threads for more giggles. He posts and disappears; only occasionally puts up a fight.

Oh, and he also has a couple of posting IDs, one of which is quantum. Hence the welcome to rufus.

Harlem, if your wife doesn't want to be isolated, why don't you join her in the kitchen?

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/5380-even-new-yorkers-agree-that-chicago-buildings-are-better

Thank you, Alanhart. There's so many posts to choose from!

envyc, don't forget Rufus' unmistakable style, already discussed here. There are threads where his speech gets deconstructed...

Mimi, I know it's horrifying, but I actually put rufus on ignore and missed a lot of the threads. I think I responded to a few, but I get enough deconstruction in other areas of my life.

Must go brush teeth now. Goodnight all.

1) Because unfortunately we don't have a separate kitchen in which to join her in glorious isolation.

2) Because I am too busy on the computer keeping up with...

Back in Pittsburgh, we called them "efficiency apartments".

you can call them "trailers in the sky"

Oh and not all NYC new developments are ugly:

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/288990-condo-235-west-113th-street-central-harlem-new-york

Dumb, yes. Ugly no. This PH is magnificent. And they just wouldn't compromise the concept by putting in an elevator.

what a gorgeous fire escape!

cc, are you attending on the 21at? maybe we could have a three way conversation about uncle milty and grandpa greenspan with JM? I could use some support here, buddy.

I don't comment on apts because I am not in NY, but this one, HarlemNWCP, I did see. The living area is tiny! And the apts have open kitchens with oversized counters (no place for a dining room.) It had a lot of outside space and the window on the penthouse is great. Long hike up, though.

Go to the open house. Even the fire escape was well done. The views onto two neo-gothic public schools are unique and beautiful and the developer had to imagine those views because they added the 3 floors giving creating the views.

i wouldn't miss it for the world. p.s. saw your latest post on elizabeth warren...wish we could have her there.

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/sale/288990-condo-235-west-113th-street-central-harlem-new-york

"Wide portions of Central Park, Morningside Park, and St. John the Divine Cathedral as well as other landmarks seem to be within reach."

SEEM to be within reach? Right. Just like Columbus Circle SEEMS to be "within reach" of Fifth Avenue.

Tiny, tiny rooms too.

Maybe worth a million on the Upper West Side. Harlem? No way.

My only point was the painful fact that this otherwise well-designed development did not include an elevator. My thought was: what is the demographic to buy a beautiful PH, great for entertaining, with no elevator?

Rufus brought up a point: do new developments in NYC have artistic merit? I think this one does (though highly impractical). Are there others?\

rufus
about 7 months ago
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you guys should look up the drawings of chicago residential buildings like the spire, waterview tower, mandarin oriental, aqua, legacy, elysian, etc. They're FAR above the caliber of NYC condos that are going up. Do some research before you bash Chicago.

I loved having Rufus around. The only poster I could vent at without a shred of guilt. Just when I'd be thinking NYC sucks, he'd pop up and I'd feel the love again. Now I have to read Admin's posts about the search for a better climate (in more ways than one) and agree with him/her.

Rufus was rejected by his dream school and dream city, Columbia and New York City.
He loved the city until sour grapes set in...

This is all well documented...
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/8131-rufus-mystery-solved

"got rejected at columbia business and am pretty devastated."

"Oh well. I have to spend an extra year in shitty Chicago and reapply for round 1 next year."

"I've been to NYC several times but haven't really partied extensively. But almost everyone I've talked to who lives there tells me how NYC is so much fun and doesn't really get boring, people are interesting, etc. To what extent is this true? What makes NYC so much more fun than other cities like LA, SF, Boston, Chicago, etc.?"

"I live in Chicago but have been to NYC quite a few times and noticed a very sharp difference in the respective social scenes. Chicago seems much more fratty and bar oriented while NYC is a bit more upscale and pretentious. The girls in NYC also dress a lot better as well. I would like to hear opinions on this subject from those of you familiar with both cities."

"Thanks for the encouragement. I'm just really bummed out since I'm 27 years old, and now is the perfect time to go. And socially, I'm extremely dissatisfied with Chicago and really want to be in NYC. I just have to improve my application for next year and hope things turn out better"

Now that he's been rejected multiple times, he's changed his story a bit.

http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/6002-stunning-visual-contrast-between-chicago-and-nyc

alanhart - do you know if there are any street fairs that Rufus can go to this weekend? He needs to get him some culture and you know how good of a street fair they throw out there in Chi-town!

the husband wanted to go upstate this weekend. mothers' day, btw. and he's missing my birthday this year. I said no way I'd do mothers' day upstate. he wanted to know what was wrong with the North Greenbush Applebee's, where America goes to celebrate.

I wonder what Roofie would have to say about Forbes most recent list...America's Most Overpriced Cities...with precious Chicago taking the #2 spot behind L.A.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/06/cities-expensive-top-lifestyle-real-estate-overpriced-cities_slide_20.html?thisSpeed=15000

Why are New Yorkers so jealous of Chicago?

No reason to be jealous at all of chicago. While the renderings and plans look fantastic on paper, the finished product....which there is not too much of since most are not being completed or have been drastically altered because of cost overruns and financial problems. The price per sq ft is about a tenth of what they are here for upper level units and rightly so. Anything above $300 psf is cause for bashing on their housing sites and nothing but negativity for those places that do feature true urban living.
Agree with the social scene... a HUGE alcoholism rate and that is the culture aspect of living in the city. Dollar canned beer scene is rampant and that is all the drive for the people there. Housing has taken a nose dive with it being so inundated with unneeded units that now seem destined to auction sales and then the prices on the remaining units are based on those successful rates and lowered just for the developers to cut and run back to NYC.
NO comparison between the two cities and unfortunately I am here for at least one more year flying back to NYC at least 2 X a month to feel like a real urbanite! If anything alanhart, it is the other way around...Chicagoans are jealous wanna be manhattanites but none of them could afford more than a studio in Queens.

A few of the newer buildings quite impress, 15 CPW, 1 Beacon Court and I found this picture of Rushmore from the non-river view...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3367/3492414065_6934ca5d70_o.jpg

I don't see how anyone can find 15 CPW impressive, with due respect, Riversider. This building in no way compares to the Beresford, San Remo, Dakota, etc. Why is that?! Are architects not getting the education they once did? The only buildings that have gone up that I have enjoyed in the past 10 years or so are the Hearst building, the new NY Times building, and the IAC building near Chelsea Piers. Yeah, they look nothing like their pre-war counterparts, but they are creative, distinctive and capture the essence of our times.

Rufus, you big douche, missed you these past few months... Thought maybe you'd jumped off the Sears Tower or something.

I thought Rufus, IP address was blocked?

LOL.

AlanFart,

Is crzy.