Absurdly Luxe Interiors Coming to 111 West 57th Street

At about $8,000 per square foot, JDS Development Group and Property Market Group's 111 West 57th Street will be home to some of the most expensive residences in New York City. So of course the skinny supertall's interiors will reflect that staggering opulence. Other than the few renderings of the project's interiors that were revealed in early April, details surrounding its finishes have been scant. William Sofield, whose namesake firm is handling the building's interiors, sat down with Architectural Digest to chat about the "pornographically expensive" project, revealing a few more unknowns all while testing out some totally tone-deaf rhetoric (h/t LLNYC).

The Architectural Digest interview divulges a few details of note. The SHoP-designed tower's lobby will have rock crystal urns designed by P.E. Guerin, who are behind every piece of the building's hardware. The $8,000 per square foot price tag will also net buyers tubs carved out of solid blocks of alabaster, end-grain marquetry floors, and "lots of" fluted glass.

Sofield has made a name for himself in the uber-luxe design trade (this is an Architectural Digest feature, after all) rendering the head of the New York City-based firm a little bit out of touch with the world at large, best sensed in this excerpt from the interview:

[AD Interviewer]: What's the latest and greatest from Studio Sofield?

[William Sofield]: Our big project is 111 West 57th Street, the new needle building that's going up above Steinway Hall. SHoP is doing the architecture, and we're doing all the interiors. It's quite a production—about 1,495 feet high and 58 feet wide, so it's too thin to kill any of the trees in Central Park.

[AD Interviewer]: [reviewing drawings] This looks swank! I suppose the building is yet another pornographically expensive project?

WS: On a scale of one to over-the-top, it's over-the-top. I think the apartments will sell for something like $8,000 per square foot, which is roughly what the fabrics we specified cost.

[AD Interviewer]: Pity the vanishing middle class.

WS: I thought this was middle class!

Although it was probably (hopefully) a joke, just let that one sink in.

The 1,428-foot building's 60 apartments have yet to hit the market, despite word that they were coming in early fall. When they do eventually unveil themselves, the apartments will ask from $14 million.
· William Sofield On His Reign as Lord of Luxury [AD]
· Here are some details about what 111 West 57th Street will look like inside [LLNYC]
· SHoP's Slender 57th Street Tower Finally Reveals Its Interiors [Curbed]
· All 111 West 57th Street coverage [Curbed]