Los Angeles Real Estate for the Design Conscious

NEW YORK BY GEHRY

VIA

No, it's not LA, but too damn beautiful not to talk about.

Iconic architect Frank Gehry’s groundbreaking project is finally complete.  The first foray into large-scale residential architecture – New York by Gehry at 8 Spruce Spruce Street in Manhattan – stands 870 feet tall (The Empire State Building is 1250 feet), with 76 stories, making it the tallest residential block in the Western hemisphere.  Although other residential buildings across the ocean dwarf Gehry’s, New York still retains the distinction of a functional landmark designed by one of the world’s greatest living architects.

A staggering amount of detail went into the vast number of decisions that had to be made to complete the structure. Even the doorknobs are hand-designed by Gehry. The hallway lighting, by L’Observatoire Int’l, the same company that lit the High Line, goes north to south and illuminates apartment doorways from above moving east to west. The exterior lighting along the east and north facades lights the building like ancient sites or monuments, the Pyramids or the the Eiffel Tower using shadows to glorify the tower’s subtle turns. Gehry chose every interior material,including the  Douglas Fir kitchen cabinets and even the amenity spaces were designed by him. The bleacher cushions in the screening room are inspired by the curtain wall’s shape. He’s everywhere you look.

The complex incorporates 23,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenity spaces, including street-level retail, a public elementary school and space for a hospital, as well as the 903-unit luxury residential tower that is supported by comprehensive concierge services that rival experiences found only in world-class hotels and resorts. Gehry’s distinctive aesthetic is carried across the interior residential and amenity spaces with custom furnishings and installations.The apartments feature innovative bay windows that shift in position from floor to floor and are individually tailored for each unit, giving residents the opportunity to, as Gehry himself describes, ” to step into space.”

Having just released the Couture Collection, larger two- and three-bedroom apartments for rent from the 40th to 76th floors, Forest City reports the building as 40% leased. Prices on the upper floors start at $3,600 for an alcove studio, $4,100 for one-bedrooms, and $7,200 for two-bedrooms. In early August, more than 80 residents moved in, each receiving a light-blue Tiffany box with a custom-made key chain of Gehry’s famous torq.

 

ADDITIONAL IMAGES AFTER THE JUMP . . .

EXTRAORDINARY HOMES FOR SALE AROUND THE WORLD

LOS ANGELES

4 bedrooms  / 5 baths  / 5,700 sq. ft.  / $13 million

Pedigree: In the late 1980s architect Frank Gehry designed this unusual home for Marna Schnabel, a former colleague in his office, and her husband, Rockwell, then the U.S. ambassador to Finland. Composed of four irregular structures, the architectural gem has been sensitively modernized by its current owner, Broadway producer Jon Platt, with Gehry’s input.

Property Values: The half-acre lot features gardens by noted landscape designer Nancy Goslee Power, plus a reflecting pond and lap pool.

Talking Point: The lighting, thermostats, security cameras, and audiovisual equipment are consolidated into one snazzy iPad-controlled system.

Exclusively Represented by: Hilton & Hyland Real Estate

 

AIX-EN PROVENCE, FRANCE

11 bedrooms / 8.5 baths / 6,450 sq. ft. / $22 million

Pedigree: Situated amid a nature preserve just minutes from the city center, this stately vineyard château was constructed over the course of the 17th and 18th centuries for French nobility. Its historic interiors have yet to be restored, but the formal gardens are poised for leisurely promenades, thanks to the scenic axes, symmetrical boxwood parterres, and romantic fountains.

Property Values: An orangerie, chapel, stable turned garage, and caretaker’s house also occupy the 57-acre grounds, more than half of which are planted with government-certified vines.

Talking Point: The owner’s cup will runneth over with the annual 100,000-bottle yield of red and rosé.

Exclusively Represented by: Emile Garcin Propriétés

WATCH HILL, RHODE ISLAND

1 bedroom  / 2.5 baths  / 2,000 sq. ft.  / $7 million

Pedigree: This four-story aerie crowns Ocean House, a reconstructed Victorian resort with private residences overlooking the Atlantic. Tucked inside the handsome central tower, the apartment boasts a ceiling clad in vertical-grain fir and a spiral staircase leading to a roof deck. The furnished interiors brim with nautical details.

Property Values: Available hotel perks include an indoor lap pool, full-service spa, croquet lawn, and a pristine beach complete with cabanas.

Talking Point: Daily room service would be nice, wouldn’t it?

oceanhouseri.com

 

 PARRY SOUND, ONTARIO

 

3 bedrooms / 4 baths  / 1,650 sq. ft.  / $681,000

Pedigree: Built in 2002, this modest cottage presides over its own private island, replete with soaring pines, sandy beaches, and picturesque rock formations. Floor-to-ceiling windows and a spacious outdoor dining area afford views of the surrounding Georgian Bay.

Property Values: 3.7 acres, with a sheltered dock and an additional cabin.

Talking Point: The value—what a tremendous bang for your buck.

privateislandsonline.com

VIA

LOUIS VUITTON CITY GUIDES 2011

VIA    

Continuing to focus of the travellers market, Louis Vuitton is perhaps best known for its luxury line of monogram luggage. Adding value to their demographic, the fashion house is to release a series of city guides for 2011, as previewed here. Set to drop on October 15, there will be 7 guides which detail the following destinations respectively: Rome, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Tokyo, Paris and Berlin. To commemorate the launch of the books, Louis Vuitton has produced a series of 2 minute clips that preview the guides which will offer advice regarding food, art, design and of course, fashion.

HISTORIC HAMPTONS SITE LISTED FOR $81.5M

Via Luxist

A massive swath of land in Southampton, New York just hit the market for $81.5 million. The Olde Towne Association has unveiled its completed 50-acre historic site. The site includes the largest mature tree move in history and offers seven building parcels for sale for a total $81.5 million, the largest land offering in Southampton Village. The four acre individual lots are available from $10.5 to $13.5 million dollars, some with second floor pond and ocean views.

Andrew Saunders of Saunders & Associates is the listing real estate broker and calls the area one of the "most rarified settings in the Hamptons."

The property is the site of the first English settlement in New York and developer Bob Gianos, founder and president of East End Properties LLC is only the seventh titled owner in 370 years. He has created a total of 10 buildable parcels with a central tree-lined green area of open space, a nature preserve at one end and open meadows at the other, a total of over a third of the space of the entire property. A separate set of roads enter from the rear of each parcel for construction and service. Gianos donated 5.5 acres to the adjacent Fowler Nature Preserve and partnered with the Community Preservation Fund to create a separate park across the street.

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AFTER THE JUMP . . . 

AMERICAN STABLES

“Frank Lloyd Wright couldn’t design an ordinary-looking building,” says producer Joel Silver, who restored the little-known Auldbrass, Wright’s 1939 plantation in Yemassee, South Carolina. A crushed-brick walkway leads to the barn. “By folding the roof down and the corners of the doors back, Wright created something origami-like,” Silver notes. 

Architectural Digest's selection of distinctive, well-styled Equine accommodations throughout the United States -- I just came across this write-up on American Stables.  While there's no relation to Los Angeles real estate, I found the stories and images refreshing and eye-catching and thought you would too.  For a bit of of a change from the norm, please read on and enjoy this beautiful part of the American landscape. 

full article

MUCH MORE AFTER THE JUMP . . . 

'FIELD OF DREAMS' FOR SALE. YEP, THE ONE FROM THE MOVIE

Iowa's world-famous "Field of Dreams" is for sale.

The asking price of $5.4 million on the 193-acre tract near Dyersville is well over the $900,000 to $1 million the land would bring at current values in Dubuque and Delaware counties. In part, that's because an estimated 65,000 people visit the field every year.

The sale will include the baseball diamond and farmhouse used in the 1989 movie, several farm buildings and two souvenir stands.

More HERE

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS & PROPERTY SPECS AFTER THE JUMP . . .  

BRIDGE OVER HOOVER DAM

On occasion, I come across something so outstanding and so impressive that despite being located outside of Los Angeles, I simply cannot resist talking about.  Here is one of those somethings. . . 

Creeping closer inch by inch, 900 feet above the mighty Colorado River, the two sides of a $160 million bridge at the Hoover Dam slowly take shape. The bridge will carry a new section of US Route 93 past the bottleneck of the old road which can be seen twisting and winding around and across the dam itself.  When complete, it will provide a new link between the states of Nevada and Arizona. In an incredible feat of engineering, the road will be supported on the two massive concrete arches which jut out of the rock face.

 

The arches are made up of 53 individual sections each 24 feet long which have been cast on-site and are being lifted into place using an improvised high-wire crane strung between temporary steel pylons.  The arches will eventually measure more than 1,000 feet across. At the moment, the structure looks like a traditional suspension bridge. But once the arches are complete, the suspending cables on each side will be removed. Extra vertical columns will then be installed on the arches to carry the road.

The bridge has become known as the Hoover Dam bypass, although it is officially called the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, after a former governor of Nevada and an American Football player from Arizona who joined the US Army and was killed in Afghanistan. Work on the bridge started in 2005 and should finish next year. An estimated 17,000 cars and trucks will cross it every day.

 

The dam was started in 1931 and used enough concrete to build a road from New York to San Francisco . The stretch of water it created, Lake Mead , is 110 miles long and took six years to fill.  The original road was opened at the same time as the famous dam in 1936.  

*An extra note: The top of the white band of rock in Lake Mead is the old waterline prior to the drought and development in the Las Vegas area. It is over 100 feet above the current water level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

WORLD'S MOST BEAUTIFUL CITIES

Forbes.com recently put together a list of the world's most beautiful cities.  Since beauty is subjective, they surveyed city specialists from a range of fields, including urban planning, architecture and sustainable development.  We end up with a pretty well-rounded list broken down by Cities of Light, Italian Gems and Stateside Stunners.  The final cut includes such usual suspects as Paris as well as few curve balls like Tokyo. See the full article HERE.   

Did you know in 2008 the travel & tourism industry raked in $944 Billion?  That number is expected to grow in 2010.

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AFTER THE JUMP . . .