We've been stupefied by the concrete and cinderblock tower under construction at 25 Great Jones Street for the better part of a year, even after its black-and-white partial reveal. Now the game plan has changed again. The 13-story sliver hotel (with big plans from celebrity chef Todd English inside) got out of the ground before the Noho Historic District was enlarged to cover the block, but the building now falls under the rule of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. So the hotel's owners have brought on a new creative team to woo the LPC with some sexy skin. Henry Smith-Miller of Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects (imaginator of Tribeca's Stone Cloud) has come on board to make the nearly complete main structure shine. Plans were unveiled at a community board meeting last night, and there were some surprises, especially over on the Bond Street side.
Smith-Miller's facade inspiration comes from around the corner on Bleecker Street: Louis Sullivan's 1897 Bayard Condict Building, one of NYC's earliest skyscrapers and graced with one of the prettiest faces in town. The intaglio terracotta is echoed in the hotel's stainless steel scrim etched with botanical shapes that will cover both the north and south facades above Great Jones and Bond Streets. Punched with holes, the scrim will allow light to penetrate while keeping the hotel rooms private (no Standard shenanigans here). The east and west facades along the lot lines that for now look so grim would get a stucco treatment with windows punched randomly. Don't forget there's another new building planned right next door along Lafayette.
The hotel's property goes through to Bond Street, where 22 Bond came down years ago. The proposal is for a picket fence bolted to the steel frame and rising 30' into the air. The fence, painted in the same pixilated patterns as the scrim above, takes its cue from the even crazier graffiti gates a few doors over at 40 Bond, and will enclose a glass-cube inner lobby?all the better to keep noisy party-goers under control (not to mention the golden dancers next door). Deciduous trees will rise within and be visible from the sidewalk outside the fence. This block is already full of fun and foliage, so we'll see how the LPC reacts. The design team has a date with the commission next week.
· 25 Great Jones Street coverage [Curbed]
· Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects [smharch.com]
Loading comments...