130 Barrow Street is a converted truck garage—fitting, given the unique features of the fourth-floor Morton Loft.
After walking through a dull, dorm-like hallway, entering the apartment can be jarring. The whole loft has a very industrial feel, with lots of stainless steel, exposed pipes snaking up and down the walls and ceiling, and a winding, elevated glass catwalk. There are no rooms per se, but rather, a wide open space and two beds fashioned from old oil tanks. They open with hatchback doors (operated by hydraulic pumps), creating surprisingly cozy "sleeping pods."
Perhaps the most notable feature is its size: at only 900-square-feet, the loft certainly feels small, but the unique layout absolutely maximizes its space, and we found ourselves wandering around, discovering all sorts of little nooks and crannies and oddities on each pass, like the two bathrooms, housed in a hollow tower in the center of the catwalk. The effect was a little disorienting (in a good way).
The owner Josh Morton bought the apartment in 1991, only renovating in 1999. For that task, he and his wife, artist Susan Weinthaler, brought in architecture studio LOT-EK to submit a design, completing renovations in 2000.
· Open House New York coverage [Curbed]
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