leep designs

27 West 67th Street 

New York, New York

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Built in 1903, 27 West 67th Street is notable for having been purpose-built by an artists association to offer both studio and living spaces in the apartment. Sturgis & Simonson, refined the duplex/studio plan that had been used in the 1880's, matching a double-height studio in the rear -- facing north -- to single-height living and sleeping rooms doubled up in the front. Completed in 1903, the building had 14 studios, plus smaller rental apartments. In 1905 a related syndicate, this time with more than shelter on its mind, successfully built 33 West 67th Street, this time with a more decorated front, and everyone saw that the game had changed. Ranger, Dumond, Hassam, Russell and others spread out and built co-ops at 130 and 140 West 57th Street, 2, 15 and 40 West 67th Street, and 44 West 77th Street.

The renovations include rebuilding the upper masonry and parapets, putting up a new copper roof and dormers, and rebuilding the moat. On the street facade, problems included deteriorated stone window sill, cracked brick and loose pointing mortar. A full facade cleaning exposed the distinct colors and textures of the brick and revealed warm accents in the limestone and bluestone, thus restoring a more exuberate Victorian Gothic appearances. The retrofit pointing mortar on the upper floors was replaced and a new tooled joint that was weathered rather than stuck concave restored the building’s original design intent. A design for recreating the gables was established using historic photographs and available physical evidence. The new gable brick was hand-stained in custom mineral pigments to match the adjacent brick. Through the remainder of the facades, careful restoration work was simultaneously carried out, includes restoration of all windows, repointing and brick replacement and restoration of the historic cast iron structural columns and beams.