New York is nothing if not a city of change and, as such, is home to some of the finest examples of adaptive reuse (i.e., repurposing a property for a different application than it was originally intended) on the planet! Take, for example, the High Line, a 1.45-mile stretch of disused elevated train track in Chelsea that has since been transformed into a bucolic urban park. Or the Swedish photography museum Fotografiska, which set up shop in Gramercy Park’s glorious Church Missions House, the former headquarters of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Then there’s Cipriani Wall Street, the famed Financial District eatery that slings cocktails and serves up high-end Italian fare at a striking Greek Revival building that once housed the New York Merchants’ Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange, the United States Customs House and National City Bank.
And now, a historic refectory (aka a formal dining hall) is being reconstituted as an indoor pool as part of Claremont Hall, a 41-story mixed-use tower currently being constructed on the grounds of Union Theological Seminary in Morningside Heights. Easily one of Manhattan’s most beautiful sites, the gorgeous campus was designed by architects Francis Richmond Allen and Charles Collens in 1910. Comprised of a stunning array of English Gothic-style structures situated around a leafy central courtyard just steps from Riverside Park, Riverside Church and Columbia University, the Christian-based learning institution looks straight out of an Ivy League fairy tale!
And several lucky Manhattanites will soon have the chance to call it home – all thanks to a rather unique twist of fate.
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Image Credit: Rendering Courtesy of Binyan Studios In 2015, Union, as it is colloquially known, found itself facing a series of pricey renovations in order to bring several of its buildings up to code. Without the funding to facilitate the $150 million project, school president Rev. Dr. Serene Jones and her staff considered many options, including moving to a new location entirely. But in the end, the solution to Union’s woes wound up coming out of thin air – literally!
In an innovative move, Jones decided to sell the campus’ air rights and allow for “a beautiful, slender building that is visually in keeping with the neighborhood” to be built at its northwest corner along Claremont Ave. As she told The New York Times, “We’re a New York City institution and we have a New York City-sized problem. But fortunately, we also have a New York City-sized answer. God is calling us to have another 100 years and air rights are the answer to that call.”
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Image Credit: Rendering Courtesy of Binyan Studios Enter Manhattan-based real estate and investment group Lendlease and LMXD, an affiliate of L+M Development Partners and Daiwa House Texas, Inc., who are spearheading the project in a joint venture. To design the structure, the group tapped Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA), the legendary firm responsible for the recent condo-conversion of The Belnord (aka The Arconia from “Only Murders in the Building”), the newly-built Cortland in West Chelsea and Yorkville’s luxe 200 East 83rd St.
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Image Credit: Rendering Courtesy of Binyan Studios Boasting a stately masonry façade, the Collegiate Gothic-style building, which topped out last October, is a seamless addition to the area skyline. As Paul Whalen, a partner at RAMSA, stated, “We are thrilled that Lendlease, LMXD and Daiwa House Texas entrusted us with the design of Claremont Hall, in collaboration with Union Theological Seminary. Together we conceived the tower as a celebration of contextual architecture through connection to a beloved and historic neighborhood. Claremont Hall shares many of the architectural features and characteristics that define the Gothic style of Union Theological Seminary and Riverside Church. With careful setbacks and a vocabulary of sympathetic detailing, we were able to connect buildings of widely varying scales with a result that ensures the continuity of this neighborhood’s comfortable urbanism into the 21st century.”
Set to be completed in 2023, the tower is situated adjacent to the school’s former refectory – a grand space comprised of sweeping vaulted ceilings and rich wood paneling – and will consist of 165 condominiums, as well as over 50,000 square feet of classrooms, academic offices and faculty apartments to be utilized by Union.
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Image Credit: Rendering Courtesy of Binyan Studios Sales of the condominiums just launched this week. Offered by the Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, the units feature one to four bedrooms and range in size from 700 to 2,765 square feet, with prices starting at $1.205 million. Three penthouses will be up for grabs at a later date, as well.
With interiors also exquisitely designed by RAMSA, the units, when finished, are set to boast spectacular views of the Hudson River and Riverside Park, tall ceilings, European white oak flooring and state-of-the-art kitchens with Bosch appliances, custom-made Italian cabinetry and Calacatta Laza quartz countertops. Some spaces will also be outfitted with terraces or loggias.
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Image Credit: Rendering Courtesy of Binyan Studios No luxe New York building is complete without a slew of amenities and Claremont Hall will certainly have them in spades! Fashioned by Nancy Ruddy and Ximena Rodriguez of the CetraRuddy architecture and design firm, the building’s public spaces are set to include a library, a lounge, a fitness center, a dining room, a children’s playroom and, of course, an indoor pool in the former refectory.
The gorgeous enclave can be seen above in its original state and a post-remodel rendering. Though the transformation is significant, Ruddy and Rodriguez are keeping many of the dining hall’s original elements intact, painstakingly restoring the stonework, leaded glass windows, ceiling trusses, chandeliers and fireplace in order to create a gloriously unique space that remains thoroughly intertwined with Union’s history.
Said history even includes a couple of small-screen cameos!
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Image Credit: Amazon Studios In the premiere episode of the Amazon hit “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” the refectory plays the dining hall at Bryn Mawr College, which Miriam Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) is shown attending in a flashback scene. Though little of the handsome space is featured onscreen, it has quite the effect on Midge, who gazes around in awe, proclaiming, “The campus was old and elegant with ivy-covered buildings and stained glass windows and monogrammed butter pads. This was a magical place where butter was beautiful and I would solve the mysteries of the universe and meet brilliant women, kindred spirits who would explore this brave new world with me.”
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Image Credit: Showtime The refectory also masquerades as Yale University, where Chuck Rhoades, Jr. (Paul Giamatti) presents a Distinguished Service Award to his father, Chuck Rhoades, Sr. (Jeffrey DeMunn), during a class reunion in the season three episode of “Billions” titled “Hell of a Ride.”
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And it plays the student lounge/café at Wendsworth Academy, the tony high school where NYPD Detective Laura Diamond (Debra Messing) and her soon-to-be-ex-husband, Captain Jake Broderick (Josh Lucas), investigate the murder of a student in the season one episode of “The Mysteries of Laura” titled “The Mystery of the Deemed Dealer.”
The reimagining will no doubt leave the space ready for its close-up for years to come.