My City: Pitting Chicago vs. LA (and More!) in the Ultimate Dream Home Challenge
Curbed has partnered with the FYI network for My City's Just Not That Into Me, a show matching intrepid city dwellers with their ideal piece of real estate. Tune in on FYI every Wednesday at 10pm ET for back-to-back episodes of the series, then visit Curbed for extra listings and real estate-hunting tips related to the episode. Thinking about breaking up with your city? Good luck!
On this season's final episodes of FYI's original series, My City's Just Not That Into Me, Neil and Niki have fallen out of love with their hometown of Chicago, while Mary and Jake are just so over Los Angeles. The couples flirt with the idea of living in Charleston, S.C., Portland, OR., Boise, ID., and Louisville, KY. Which would you choose? Here, let us help you decide with a swoon-worthy selection of abodes for sale sprinkles around Los Angeles and Chicago.
On this season's final episodes of FYI's original series, My City's Just Not That Into Me, Neil and Niki have fallen out of love with their hometown of Chicago, while Mary and Jake are just so over Los Angeles. The couples flirt with the idea of living in Charleston, S.C., Portland, OR., Boise, ID., and Louisville, KY. Which would you choose? Here, let us help you decide with a swoon-worthy selection of abodes for sale sprinkles around Los Angeles and Chicago.
How a Stylish French Family Remixes a Brooklyn Brownstone
All photos by Birgitta Wolfgang Drejer via New York Cottages & Gardens
Usually people talk about trying to be more like the French, but for former Parisian Florence Mars and her family, it's been all about embracing America—or least, the version of America that concerns a newly-renovated townhouse in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn, where an an influx of French families has brought along shops with French signs and schools with a French curriculum. Okay, so maybe it's just about being French in America. Anyway, their home,profiled in the latest issue of New York Cottages & Gardens, was reworked by Manhattan-based firm Murdock Solon Architects in 2013. Shedding original features like extravagant molding and "everything painted gold," the remodel brought a bright-and-airy and altogether very European vibe to a landmark Brooklyn property.
Miniature and On-the-Market 265-Square-Foot Apartment in San Francisco
Last we checked in, the smallest residence on the market in San Francisco clocked in at a spare 291 square feet. Now an even smaller studio, a TIC on Baker Street near the Presidio, has thrown its tiny hat into the ring. Asking $425K, the unit has undergone a recent remodel, and sports wood floors, a decent albeit generic kitchen, and a sink that looks almost like a mold the tiny flat-screen TV could have been cast from.For $885K, an 1888 Italianate Villa Ready To Be Swooned Over
Location: Portland, Oregon
Price: $885,000
The William E. Brainerd House in Portland has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. The 1888 Victorian Italianate villa in the city's Mount Tabor neighborhood is one of the last remaining grand dame homes of that period. Photographs from the era show the 5,410-square-foot property next to a carriage house and a Presbyterian church, and surrounded by farmland. Built for the real estate investor and banker William E. Brainard, the four-bedroom home has many original features, like timber ceiling beams, an ornate staircase with carved railings, window seats, and fir wainscoting. It's asking$885,000.
Price: $885,000
The William E. Brainerd House in Portland has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. The 1888 Victorian Italianate villa in the city's Mount Tabor neighborhood is one of the last remaining grand dame homes of that period. Photographs from the era show the 5,410-square-foot property next to a carriage house and a Presbyterian church, and surrounded by farmland. Built for the real estate investor and banker William E. Brainard, the four-bedroom home has many original features, like timber ceiling beams, an ornate staircase with carved railings, window seats, and fir wainscoting. It's asking$885,000.
The Ultimate European Road Trip Covers 45 Cities in 14 Days
Screenshot via Randy Olson
Early last month, data scientist Randy Olson took an algorithm he devised for finding Waldo and used it to map out the ultimate U.S. road trip—a 13,699-mile, 50-stop journey that could be completed in nine non-stop days of driving. As it turns out, shortly after that wanderlust-inducing exercise, Olson also created a European version, a 45-stop itinerary that ensures the fastest route between each destination with the least amount of backtracking. The result, seen above, illustrates how you can technically cover 16,287 miles in 14 days—though to actually enjoy the sights, you should probably budget at least three months.
10 Rare Shots of Frida Kahlo's Life at Home in Mexico City
Kahlo in the garden of her house, La Casa Azul, in Coyoacán, Mexico City, 1951—Photo: © Gisèle Freund / IMEC / Fonds MCC
Famed Mexican painter Frida Kahlo spent the final years of her life at home in the Coyoacán neighborhood of Mexico City, before passing away in 1954 at age 47. During this time, she befriended French portrait photographer Gisèle Freund, who would embed herself in Kahlo's private life and emerge with some of the last photos ever taken of the artist. And now in Frida Kahlo: The Gisèle Freund Photographs, a new volume out from Abrams Books, over a hundred of these shots, many of which have never been published before, are showcased altogether, along with texts from Kahlo's biographer Gérard de Cortanze, art historian Lorraine Audric, and Freund herself.
Man With Starchitect-Designed Pad Wants His Own Rail Station
The Sunken House, a three-story minimalist box with dark cedar cladding designed by British starchitect and dollhouse designer David Adjaye, sits directly above the future route for London's CrossRail 2 train, which is scheduled to open in 2030. As a personal consolation prize for dealing with the construction, resident Ed Reeve has appliedfor approval to dig his own private railway station under the house, potentially the only benefit the train's close proximity could have. The plans call for "ramped travellators," which are essentially moving walkways that move at the speed of passing trains, allowing Reeve and his family to board without the train actually having to stop.
Whittier, Alaska, Where an Entire Town Lives Under One Roof
In Whittier, Alaska, almost all of the tiny town's 200 residents live in one building and hardly ever have to go outside. The 14-story building, Begich Towers, which looks like an appropriate setting for a Wes Anderson movie, was built in 1956 and used to be an army barracks. Residents can stay indoors and avoid the town's extreme weather because the building has, literally, everything. There's a post office, police station (which looks more like a principal's office), laundromat, convenience store, health clinic, and even a video rental store.
The Fire-Destroyed Glasgow School of Art Will Be Restored
Photo via Architectural Record
Last summer, the Glasgow School of Art, built in 1909 by architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh in a style that mixed art nouveau flourishes with Scottish baronial architecture, was destroyed by a fire that damaged each one of its 259 rooms. It was just announced that the Scottish firm Page\Park has been selected for the iconic building's rebuilding and restoration. The firm has previously restored several other of Mackintosh buildings, and beat out four other practices for the £35M ($52M) commission. The most severe damage was confined to the building's library and studio spaces, but 90% of the structure and 70% of the contents were able to be saved. Work will begin in early 2016, and is expected to take about a year and a half.
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This Contemporary Seattle Floating Home Will Run You $1.75M
Take a look at Unit B at 3212 Portage Bay Place E, one half of thefloating condo that just hit the market for $1.75M. It's the kind of sleek, modern design that most landlubbers would kill for, let alone those looking for a luxury floating home experience. Lots of name features abound, including Bosch & KitchenAid appliances, carrara marble countertops, and Hansgrohe fixtures. You get three bedrooms plus a den/office spread out across 1,850 sf, not to mention two decksfor all of those great Portage Bay views. Thanks to gas-fired radiant heating and heated bathroom tile floors, you won't have to worry about those lake breezes chilling you, either.
Renderings Reveal the Brand Spanking New MLK Library
[All renderings via the D.C. Public Library]Washington, D.C.'s central library, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, is a national landmark that has been neglected forfar too long. With hopes to transform the space into "a center for learning, innovation, and engagement," the D.C. Public Library (DCPL) is moving forward with preliminary designs that give an in-depth look at what the library may look like after its $208 million renovation. $200 million is already set aside for the project, but the funds won't be released until 2019 and 2020, so don't expect construction to start any time soon. Below, you'll find the newly revealed renderings from the architecture team Martinez + Johnson and Mecanoo as well as previous designs that have since been scrapped.
This Dark Wooden Box Hides the Ultimate Book Lover's Escape
All photos by Antonin Ziegler via Dezeen
Take note bookworms: this new private library extension for a stone house on the northern coast of France is one incredible way to house an expanding book collection. Recently completed by Paris-based architect Antonin Ziegler, the 645-square-foot timber volume contains three sides of large glass windows, which open up to cliff-top views of the village and the sea, and one entire wall of wooden shelves for nothing but books.
SF's Swanky New Tech Shuttle Looks Like a Living Room Inside
Photos via Leap
The San Francisco tech bus has now opened for the masses, tech or otherwise, with a new shuttle service called Leap. For $6 a ride, riders can hop on the swanky shuttle and use its Wi-Fi, charging stations, or purchase a snack (all healthy, local, and expensive, of course). Designed to feel like a relaxing, tech-y living room instead of an overcrowded bus, the spacious interior is surprisingly sleek.
Tommy Hilfiger's Artsy Plaza Penthouse Is Now Only $75M
Fashion mogul Tommy Hilfiger and his wife Dee Ocleppo listed their Plaza penthouse for an eye-popping $80 million in October 2013. While the renovated pad—decked out in such a way as to complement Hilfiger's collection of Warhols, obviously—is certainly luxurious and glamorous and all that jazz, this Curbed commenter pretty much summed up the general opinion about the 6,000-square-foot duplex: "This is just yet another listing at The Plaza that will languish on the market for years unsold or suffer a price chop of embarrassing proportions until it finds a buyer." And now, 17 months later, thepricechopper has arrived. The penthouse, which includes four bedrooms, a Central Park-facing terrace, and a round room in a turretthat contains a custom mural of Plaza icon Eloise, was taken off the market in October. But the New York Post reports that it will re-list for a slightly discounted $75 million.
Jacques Herzog Just Completely Trashed the 2015 Milan Expo
Italy Pavilion by Nemesi & PartnersRendering via Dezeen
Swiss starchitect Jacques Herzog, otherwise known as one half of Herzog & De Meuron, was supposed to take part in designing an ambitious masterplan for the 2015 Expo in Milan. Herzog and others in the team agreed to the project with the stipulation that the "outdated" expo format be reconsidered, the architect told Uncube magazine, to "overcome this ridiculous system of national pride represented by individual pavilion design." Since the 19th century, he continued, all the expos have been "obsolete vanity fairs." However, apparently most of the countries didn't really want to change the way they'd been doing things for time immemorial, and Herzog and his brethren left the project in 2011. "What a bore and a waste of money and resources!"
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