Made In Manhattan

With a new apartment building on West 17th Street, architect Morris Adjmi adds another completed project to his growing New York portfolio.

- Laura Raskin

Architect Morris Adjmi is no stranger to working in landmarked and historic districts, having designed hotels, residences, and offices in storied New York neighborhoods such as Soho and Williamsburg. His firm’s portfolio is rich in additions, renovations, and do-overs that could serve as a manual on how to sensitively weave contemporary and existing design to say something new.

What, then, to do with a building and a city block with no designated historic significance but, for lack of a better term, landmark adjacency? This was the challenge for Adjmi and his team when they set out to design a boutique luxury condominium building for Toll Brothers at 55 West 17th Street. Located just outside the Ladies’ Mile Historic District—roughly bounded by West 15th and West 24th Streets, and Park Avenue South and Sixth Avenue— the site is part of a jumble of building types, including residential, former manufacturing lofts, and large department stores on Broadway, which became a prime shopping destination for women at the end of the 19th century. The district is somewhat unusual in that it lacks a distinctive architectural style— each avenue and side-street block has its own character, with terra-cotta and buff-painted brick as the prevailing materials. But to some extent, “historic districts are artificial,” says Adjmi, who has designed a handful of buildings within Ladies’ Mile. “Lines are drawn around a certain number of buildings and that’s the end of it. But during the time of its evolution, the district wasn’t that clearly defined.”