Thursday, May 6, 2010

☞ ARCHITECTURE: Contextual Condominiums


The rare piece of architecture called the contextual condo can be found while walking along West 122nd Street, between ACP/7th Avenue and FDB/8th Avenue. Number 203 West 122nd Street took a typical brownstone lot and built up to create a five-unit building completed back in 2005. It's sort of the minimalist version of a Georgian style building, but it definitely doesn't stick out like some of the newer upstarts in the nabe. There's also an elevator inside that connects the garage to the penthouse. Overall, not a bad solution? Photos by Ulysses

10 comments:

  1. This is one of my favorite new Harlem buildings, a little effort on the details makes this façade is a great addition to the block.

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  2. Another very impressive Harlem addition is 50 West 127th St bwtn Lenox and 5th Ave. To-date I've not seen anything like it in Harlem....and it blends fairly well with the neighborhood. (I don't have any pics, sorry)

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  3. Imagine my surprise to log on today and see my building! I agree with you, and one of the reasons we like the building so much is that, while new, it doesn't feel out of place on our block.

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  4. Should have chicken bones glued on the facade, then it would be contextual.

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  5. Sai Bab = Chicken bones. He's a racist and it needs to stop. Contact Curbed.com and complain today!

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  6. His real name is Ali Baba the camel lover.

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  7. naw, it’s not Sai Baba, he at least can be witty.

    This is some other guy who posts on Curbed whenever there’s an article about Harlem with the chicken bone thing.

    Nasty little worm. Don’t give him any attention.

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  8. Ulysses should moderate offensive comments on this blog so that it does not degenerate the way the comments section on Curbed has. I think eventually Curbed is going to have to start moderating comments anyway because the lack of civility definitely detracts from the seriousness of that site's endeavor. There is always the NY Post for those posters who just want to vent their antisocial and/or deranged viewpoints.

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  9. Thank you, Anony, for suggesting a complaint to Curbed. Last week I forwarded a wonderful article to an out of town friend, whose only comment back was about the outrageous bloggers - who have now found HB.
    After reading what she read, I unsubscribed. But will now contact Cubed w/a complaint. Thank you for your suggestion.
    Beautiful well done Townhouse above.

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  10. There's also a row of these between FDB and Manhattan on 119th (or so). I'd always assumed they were old houses then looked closer and noticed a lot of the details werent period-appropriate. Anyway, I wish more architects were doing stuff like this, fits in very well with the rest of the neighborhood.

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