Penthouse living: a New York residential gem by Thomas Juul-Hansen

When Thomas Juul-Hansen was charged with designing Chelsea’s latest residential addition, 505 W 19th Street, he came face-to-face with New York City’s celebrated High Line running straight through the middle of his project. The New York-based Danish designer decided to hug the iron-clad, raised park, which now sits as the centrepiece between the address’s two ten-storey towers.
'We saw the High Line as sort of an elongated version of a typical city park, which brings a lot of good energy to the site,' says Juul-Hansen of the project, which links the towers on either side with a connecting lobby underneath the old railway, exposing the ironwork with its glass ceiling.
This community-based energy, along with inspiration from the neighbourhood’s historically deep-walled, brick warehouses, resulted in 35 apartments, ranging from one to five bedrooms. Mimicking the warehouse aesthetic, the exterior is made up of grey limestone bricks, and angled windows utilise the depth of the façade for added privacy, a directed view of the park and a play with the day’s light. 'As the sun moves across the building,' Juul-Hansen says, 'it’s a different building almost every day.'
The west tower is topped off by one of the last available apartments, a crown jewel in the form of a duplex penthouse that boasts 4,664 ft of interior and 1,150 ft of exterior terrace space. Here, Juul-Hansen’s attention to simple-yet-luxe interior detail is evident in the four-bedroom, four-and-a-half bathroom apartment, from the bespoke brass fittings in the steam showers to the way the evening sun moves through the upper level entertainment and dining spaces.
'The High Line is a little bit different, it’s more of a neighbourhood,' Juul-Hansen adds, speaking of the unique spot the new residence holds in the city. 'This is really about enjoying the outdoors and the sun and the views.'
Comprising two ten-storey buildings, the structure houses a mix of 35 residences, ranging from one to five bedrooms
The west tower is topped off by one of the last available apartments, a crown jewel in the form of a duplex penthouse
The property boasts 4,664 ft of interior and 1,150 ft of exterior terrace space
This luxurious unit's features include a powder room, a mud room, a terrace and library
The designer has ensured the grey limestone clad development includes large windows for residents to take in those iconic New York views
INFORMATION
For more information visit Thomas Juul-Hansen’s website
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Like a modernist iceberg, this Krakow house has a perfectly chiselled façade
A Krakow house by Polish architecture studio UCEES unites brutalist materialities with modernist form
-
Leo Costelloe turns the kitchen into a site of fantasy and unease
For Frieze week, Costelloe transforms everyday domesticity into something intimate, surreal and faintly haunted at The Shop at Sadie Coles
-
Can surrealism be erotic? Yes if women can reclaim their power, says a London exhibition
‘Unveiled Desires: Fetish & The Erotic in Surrealism, 1924–Today’ at London’s Richard Saltoun gallery examines the role of desire in the avant-garde movement
-
Ballman Khaplova creates a light-filled artist’s studio in upstate New York
This modest artist’s studio provides a creative with an atelier and office in the grounds of an old farmhouse, embedding her practice in the surrounding landscape
-
The most important works of modernist landscape architecture in the US
Modernist landscapes quite literally grew alongside the modern architecture movement. Field specialist and advocate Charles A. Birnbaum takes us on a tour of some of the finest examples
-
Jeanne Gang’s single malt whisky decanter offers a balance ‘between utility and beauty’
The architect’s whisky decanter, 'Artistry in Oak', brings a sculptural dimension to Gordon & MacPhail's single malt
-
This perfectly cubed house sits atop a hill in Hudson Valley
Forma’s ‘House on a Hill’ resembled a black wooden box – all straight lines and sharp angles against the rolling backdrop of New York State
-
An idyllic slice of midcentury design, the 1954 Norton House has gone on the market
Norton House in Pasadena, carefully crafted around its sloping site by Buff, Straub & Hensman, embodies the Californian ideal of the suburban modern house embedded within a private landscape
-
Herzog & de Meuron and Piet Oudolf unveil Calder Gardens in Philadelphia
The new cultural landmark presents Alexander Calder’s work in dialogue with nature and architecture, alongside the release of Jacques Herzog’s 'Sketches & Notes'. Ellie Stathaki interviews Herzog about the project.
-
Meet Studio Zewde, the Harlem practice that's creating landscapes 'rooted in cultural narratives, ecology and memory'
Ahead of a string of prestigious project openings, we check in with firm founder Sara Zewde
-
The best of California desert architecture, from midcentury gems to mirrored dwellings
While architecture has long employed strategies to cool buildings in arid environments, California desert architecture developed its own distinct identity –giving rise, notably, to a wave of iconic midcentury designs