Category: Blog

If you are inspired by the sophisticated design of the residences and amenities at 88 & 90 Lex, one of New York City’s most established design schools, the New York School of Interior Design (NYSID), is once again offering its Dialogues on Design series, returning for its sixth year. On select Thursdays from 6 pm to 7:30 pm, these moderated discussions will feature a collection of prominent design masters as well as the next generation of interior visionaries, speaking to their influences and evolution of the design industry.

October 24th’s dialogue, the first in the series, is the only discussion with two featured guests. Bunny Williams, the legendary interior designer and founder of the eponymously titled Bunny Williams design firm, will be joined by her design partner of 14 years, Elizabeth Lawrence. The two will provide insight into the industry, discuss their approach to each project, and reveal how the firm has stayed on top for three decades and counting.

November 21st brings David Netto to NYSID. The designer, writer, and design historian is well-known on both coasts for his inviting yet daring work. His approach defies convention, and his ability to blend an array of styles is second to none.

On February 6th, Juan Montoya, one of the most prolific interior designers, will be parsing out wisdom from his four decades of work in the industry. Though typically thought of as a modernist, Montoya has shown that he can thrive in any style and era. Montoya is a master at doing more with less.

The series wraps up on April 23rd with Michelle Nussbaumer, the lead designer and founder of Michelle Nussbaumer Design. Nussbaumer is widely known for her ability to bring an immense amount of color and vibrancy to a space. It takes a serious talent to be able to blend bright colors and distinct patterns, but Nussbaumer makes it look effortless. There is a real serenity to her work.

The five guest speakers are titans in the industry of design and will surely provide inspiration for your new luxury condo in dynamic NoMad. View the current availability at 88 & 90 Lex or contact our on-site sales gallery at (212) 685-8890 for a scheduled tour.

The cheeseburger is one of the most popular sandwiches in New York City, becoming a standout dish at cocktail bars, local diners, and even pizzerias—they’re so beloved that there’s even a National Cheeseburger Day to celebrate them. Just steps from the new luxury condos at 88 & 90 Lex you’ll find myriad options to serve your every cheeseburger need. Here’s a list of some great places to get you started.

“The (High) Standard”

Shake Shack | Madison Square Park – East 23^rd and Madison Avenue

When it comes to cheeseburgers, sometimes you must go with the classic. And if you want a cheeseburger in NYC, you must head to “the Shack.” This Danny Meyer phenomenon has numerous locations around the city, but the one at Madison Square Park is the original and most popular. Shake Shack started out as a hot dog stand to raise funds for the park’s first art installation. And the cheeseburgers were—if the multinational operation it is today is any indication—pretty good too. Sure, the lines can be long, but at least you’ll have a beautiful view of the park.

Make the wait worth it by pairing their fan-fave double ShackBurger with crinkle fries and a namesake shake. Honoring Meatless Monday? No problem. The ‘Shroom Burger, made of crisp, fried portobello mushroom oozing with cheese, will keep you satisfied.

“The Friend from Cali”

Upland | 345 Park Avenue South

California cuisine might not be the first thing you think of when you think of a great cheeseburger, but Upland might change your mind about that. Nestled between the roasted porchetta and the steak sandwich you’ll find the Upland burger, a classic combo of grass-fed beef and American cheese, with a smattering of peppadew peppers and, of course, an avocado. Order it for lunch or, better yet, brunch. If you’re in the mood, pair it with a choice from their “worldly” wine list.

“The Pub Burger”

The Storehouse | 69 West 23rd Street

If you’re heading to a pub, you’ve got a pretty good chance of finding a decent cheeseburger, but the Irish-themed Storehouse has a not-so-secret ingredient that helps them stand out in a crowd: bacon jam. During lunch, the Storehouse Burger comes with a beer and fries and shares the stage with the Irish bacon-topped Breakfast Burger on Mondays and the double-pattied Beastly Burger on Wednesdays. If you’re feeling generous, they offer a slider option so you can share with friends. But you don’t have to.

“The Fromage Aficionado’s Friend”

The Ainsworth | 122 West 26th Street

The Ainsworth wants you to have options, and their burger list is no different. Your classic cheeseburger is here, complete with bacon, lettuce, and tomato, and they kick it up a notch with the Chelsea, featuring onion rings and pepper jack cheese. But there are cheeseburgers, and then there are cheeseburgers, and the Ainsworth has embraced the word “cheese” with their Mac & Cheese Burger. Yes, there’s a beef patty in their somewhere, but it’s smothered under a topping of gooey macaroni and cheese and sandwiched between even more of the macaroni, which is panko-crusted and serving as the bun.

Maybe you can find a good cheeseburger anywhere these days, but the great ones are right next door when you’re a resident of the NoMad homes at 88 & 90 Lex.

A New Cityscape Rises in Madison Square Park

Artist Leonardo Drew just installed a monumental new piece at the iconic Madison Square Park, mere blocks away from the NoMad condominiums at 88 & 90 Lex. This sprawling interactive installation, titled City in the Grass, invites visitors to engage with physical space and question their own place in the urban fabric.

Leonardo Drew

Drew was born in Florida and lived most of his life in Bridgeport, CT, before attending Parsons School of Design and completing a BFA from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. He has been a New Yorker since graduating, and currently lives in Brooklyn. Drew makes large sculptures that explore texture and shape, often taking the form of massive layered edifices that force the viewer to step back and appreciate the whole before diving into the details.

City in the Grass

When tasked with creating his installation at Madison Square Park, Drew decided to look at the project as an opportunity to create his own tiny version of New York City. The result is part topographic model, part map, and part sculpture, where tiny wood block skyscrapers live in the melting shadow of massive organic-looking towers. At over 100 feet long, City in the Grass takes up most of the park’s Oval Lawn, and visitors are invited to walk around the piece and discover its many intimate facets for themselves.

The Passage of Time and People

Brooke Kamin Rapaport, deputy director and senior curator of Mad. Sq. Art at the Madison Square Park Conservancy, told the New York Times that cities like ours “can be places of great inspiration but also great denigration, and that complexity is in this project.” In fact, the denigration of the piece itself was planned by Drew, who looks forward to City in the Grass being eroded and changed by visitors as well as the weather itself. “I would love it to take abuse because my work really is about a weathered history of our journey on this planet,” Drew explained in the New York Times article. “The piece is going to find itself in a whole other level of loveliness if it’s allowed to live.”

The accessibility of nearby studios, galleries, and exhibitions, such as City in the Grass, certainly provides the ideal backdrop for the art aficionado living in NoMad. And within each residence at 88 & 90 Lex, the graciously-scaled living areas are accented with intentional design features, such as gallery-inspired art walls, allowing one to design an entire room around a piece of art.

If you’re looking to give your new home a character of its own, visit our availabilities page or on-site sales gallery today at 88 & 90 Lex.

When the show Maurice Sendak: Drawing the Curtain opened at The Morgan Library & Museum in June, The New Yorker wrote of Sendak’s work as a set designer and his creative relationship with this unique New York institution: “He (Sendak) often turned to the archives of the Morgan Library for inspiration and later returned the favor, bequeathing nine hundred of his preparatory works to the museum.” The show is not only a testament to Sendak’s talent but to the vital role the museum has played in the creative life of the city since it was given to the public in 1924.

The Morgan was born out of Pierpont Morgan’s incomparable collection of artworks, books, and artifacts, a collection amassed with the greatest care and respect for history and the arts. It’s a reflection of a particular mind, and it’s a work of art in and of itself. A veritable time capsule into the past, and into the depths of the greatest human imaginations, this museum, which both inspires and is a showcase for masterworks, is just a short walk from the new luxury condos at 88 & 90 Lex.

The works in Drawing the Curtain are taken mostly from the 900 pieces that Sendak left to the museum, but it also features works from the collection by greats like William Blake, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Domenico and Giambattista Tiepolo, grounding Sendak’s creations in an art-historical continuum that reveals how much the world of his books and sets is in constant conversation with the past. It’s an apt exhibit for a museum whose physical, architectural presence in the city is a campus that includes Morgan’s original library, designed by the renowned Charles McKim to look like a building of the Italian Renaissance, along with a set of glass pavilions designed by Renzo Piano that expanded exhibition, dining, and performance spaces in 2006.

Another exhibit not to be missed is Walt Whitman: Bard of Democracy, a show that brings the viewer intimately close with the poems, notebooks, and letters of another New York luminary. It includes correspondence with Ralph Waldo Emerson and original writings by Oscar Wilde, Hart Crane, Federico García Lorca, and Allen Ginsberg that attest to Whitman’s lasting influence on letters and the world. Another museum highlight that links the past and the world to come is Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawing 552D, a piece donated to the museum by the artist’s family; its geometric, architectural form is like an abstraction of Pierpont Morgan’s original library—a time capsule that carries our history into the present.

And living so close to the Morgan in the NoMad residences at 88 & 90 Lex means the museum campus can be everything from a local lunch spot and a place to shop to an exhibition space, a performance space, or, as was the case for Maurice Sendak, a research facility for your personal and professional interests.

Not all art is meant to be confined in museums or residences.

Some pieces are most at home outdoors, entrenched in the small pockets of escape within the pulsating city. Madison Square Park, with its widely celebrated Mad. Sq. Art. Program, is one of these special, noteworthy places where art meets the outdoors with enchanting results.

Located between Madison Avenue and 5th Avenue where 5th meets Broadway, Madison Square Park is not the largest park in NYC by any means. But it’s this inherent modesty that separates the space from the madding crowd and makes it the intimate sanctuary of art and nature that it is. The park spans seven acres of lush lawns, playgrounds, dog runs, and vibrant foliage, with stunning large-scale art exhibits throughout.  The Mad. Sq. Art. Program—supported by the Madison Square Park Conservancy—ensures the grounds always feature fascinating pieces from acclaimed sculptors. Past installations were created by an impressive list of artists including Mark di Suvero, Shannon Plumb, Alison Saar, Rachel Feinstein, Bill Fontana, and many others.

Currently on display is renowned British artist Tony Cragg’s Walks of Life, which features three mammoth bronze sculptures. Cragg’s large-scale works posses a keen sense of movement and energy as they strike a sophisticated balance between the familiar and the abstract. Grounded and yet metaphysical in their scope, they incorporate contorted surfaces whose contours push out to create an overall aesthetic that is as striking as it is captivating. Walks of Life continues in the Madison Square Park tradition of distinct and visceral large-scale sculpture exhibits that meld into the surrounding areas of the park as if they are a natural extension of the vegetation that encircles them. The Madison Square Park Conservancy puts a great deal of time and resources into their Mad. Sq. Art program, and those who are lucky enough to visit the park are the beneficiaries of their unflinching dedication.

A visit to Madison Square Park provides a welcome respite from that sustained city buzz. Just a short stroll from a Gramercy condo, it’s a place that can immerse one in greenery while also providing the opportunity to be entranced by a delicate mix of nature and art. Surrounded by towering Flatiron condos, the green expanses of the park offer a pristine haven where relaxation can be enhanced by artistic expression, and where free concerts combined with rotating art installations often create a brimming cultural hub pulsating with creativity.

Photo by: Richard Winchell / CC BY

The new Gramercy condos for sale at 88 and 90 Lexington Avenue will be equipped with some of the most impressive kitchens in all of Manhattan. Rather than reflect scaled-down versions of restaurant kitchens, they are designed to provide serious, fully-equipped work spaces for the ambitious home chef who loves to entertain—and attempt the occasional creative experiment.

The Gramercy and Flatiron districts happen to be brimming with culinary delights: Not only are there an array of options for dining out, there are dozens of markets and shops for fresh ingredients and tools of the trade. Sometimes an expertly prepared meal and a cozy night in can be even more fun than a night on the town. Here are a few of the must-visit shops for every Gramercy condo resident with even a touch of culinary flair:

Rosendo Fish Market (383 2nd Avenue)

The seafood at Rosendo is always fresh and well-prepared and their selection is impressively diverse. Their red snapper, sea bass, and oysters are known throughout the area for being top-notch selections. Grab a few pounds of fresh bass and attempt to mimic the incredible seared sea bass dish at the famed Gramercy Tavern. In addition to the varied fish options, Rosendo offers numerous marinades and ready-to-go meals, all of which are prepared with great care. It’s readily apparent that the Rosendo staff knows their product through and through as they’re always helpful and will lend their expert opinion whenever needed.

Fairway Market (766 Sixth Avenue) & The Gramercy Natural Frontier Market (325 3rd Avenue)

The Fairway Market in Kips Bay is a large and wonderful supermarket; regardless of what one is searching for, Fairway likely has it. Their massive vegetable selection is full of fresh, vibrant veggies and features many organic options. They have a butcher on site and offer fresh cuts of meat and cold cuts. Fairway is also known for its large selection of imported and domestic cheeses, as well as an assortment of cakes and cookies. For preparing meals at home, Fairway is the perfect choice. If one prefers a more intimate and local feel, The Gramercy Natural Frontier Market is a great option. This small, neighborhood green market offers an array of vegetarian and vegan options not typically carried by most supermarkets. They also stock a good number of organic grains and beans that can be bought in bulk, providing a convenient option when it comes to cooking for a large group.

Eataly (200 5th Avenue)

Eataly is a sprawling wonderland of Italian food. The massive market in the Flatiron District was opened by famed chef Mario Batali and his partners in 2004 and has since become a renowned attraction of the area. Eataly has what is most likely the widest selection of homemade pastas in the city. After a trip to Eataly for some fresh pasta and some clams, one can attempt to recreate the vibrant flavor of the Spaghetti and Clams dish at the great Flatiron District eatery, The Gander. Eataly has pretty much everything one could want in an Italian market including pastas, cheeses, produce, fish, meat, and an assortment of desserts. Beyond the food, Eataly also sells a wide array of high-quality cookware, and many of their pastas come with cooking instructions and preparation ideas. Eataly is not only a massive food market, it’s an experience. Many people visit just to walk around and enjoy its bustling atmosphere…and perhaps indulge in some gelato or a classic cannoli.

Bedford Cheese Shop (67 Irving Place)

Since 2003, the Bedford Cheese Shop has cultivated a thriving neighborhood following by paying close attention to the seasonal nature of cheese-making. By working with farms to select cheeses at their peak readiness, they provide a rotating assortment of high-quality cheeses throughout the year. Their Gramercy location opened in 2012 and features all sorts of intriguing details including a 15-foot cheese case, three aging facilities, and a special space for classes and events called the Homestead. Tastings are held regularly.

Photo by:©iStock.com/Minerva Studio

If there’s one architectural style and historic period that best represents New York to the world, it has to be the Art Deco look of the Roaring ’20s. Think the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, the former American Stock Exchange Building. Manhattan’s greatest and most recognizable landmarks were all designed in the Art Deco aesthetic and hail from one of the greatest boom periods of perhaps the most booming city in the world. So influential were the city’s skyscrapers to the period’s look that an alternative name for Art Deco at the time was “Skyscraper Style.”

While Art Deco—or Art Moderne, as it was originally called—was launched at the 1925 Parisian Exposition Internationale, America—and New York City in particular—quickly became the world capital of the ambitious, ornamental, forward-thinking style. Art Deco’s heyday was short: The 1939-40 New York World’s Fair in Queens can be seen as the bookend to the Paris Exposition. And yet New York’s great Deco masterpieces remain a testament to that age’s ongoing influence.

The glory of the age, and America’s prominent aesthetic and cultural influence on it, can now be seen at MOMA’s new joint reinstallation of European and American art, “Reimagining Modernism: 1900-1950.” While historically the two continents have been presented separately, this new reframing allows visitors to MOMA’s outstanding collection to more fully appreciate the depth of early American Modernism, which forms the backbone of the museum’s collection.

While post-WWI America emerged as the world’s industrial, technological, and economic super power, Art Deco, which united clean, modern, industrialized lines with beautiful reimagined decorative motifs from around the world—Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek, Native American—perfectly captured the young nation’s new global dominance. The optimistic marriage of industry and design survived even the Great Depression, when the Empire State Building’s decorative elements were constrained by the financial obstacles of 1931. Compare its airy but relatively plain mast to the more purely decorative terraced stainless steel crown of the Chrysler Building, begun in 1928. The Empire State Building nonetheless remains an iconic example of the Art Deco style, with its underlying emphasis on verticality and the celebration of manufactured and technologically produced lines shining through.

Today’s New York shares a great deal with the Manhattan of the Roaring ’20s. Skyscrapers are popping up anew around the city, and the lower end of Manhattan is experiencing a residential boom as today’s movers and shakers seek out the new luxury Flatiron condos and other lower Manhattan developments that surround the city’s financial and business districts.

Those who have a taste for old-fashioned style and elegance are aware, of course, that along with the preservation of places like Pete’s comes a premium on preserving the past—and while the neighborhoods of lower Manhattan are booming with new construction, some of the most luxurious neighborhoods, like Gramercy Park and Madison Square, are actually characterized as much by splendid restorations as by new development. Those seeking Madison Square Park condos and Gramercy Park condos for sale can find some superb Art Deco structures to call home. An excellent example can be found in the refurbished condos in the 1927 building at 88 Lexington Avenue, rechristened 88 Lex. The building’s exterior has the geometric, vertical lines of its era as well as a classic light color, set backs to create a stepped outline, tall arched windows at street level, and arch detailing on the corner windows at the top. Meanwhile its interior features the smooth brushed-aluminum doors and fixtures of the period as well as aluminum-inlaid stone floors, and continues the characteristic vertical lines of the exterior with tall ceilings and geometric vertical stone panels in the lobby.

While the soaring city skyline captured the spirit of the Roaring ’20s and sent it aloft, that spirit was equally bright and alive on the streets below. New technologies—automobiles, radio, moving pictures, electrification—propelled the world out of the wartime economy and mood and established the modern consumer society. New York constructed the Holland Tunnel and the George Washington Bridge to accommodate its growing population and the emerging demands of automobile traffic. The Plaza Hotel became a favorite spot for cultural heavyweights like F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Women got the vote and got rid of corsets and the restrictive expectations of the pre-war era. The Harlem Renaissance anchored the Jazz Age, the Stock Market rose to unprecedented heights, and Babe Ruth joined the Yankees. Again, today’s New York with its booming bar and restaurant scene, expanding retail and leisure opportunities, and optimistic business environment captures something of the spirit of the earlier age.

Hence, for instance, the new “speakeasy”-type bars popping up all over the city—though there is nothing like quaffing a drink or two in a location that was serving them up even when alcohol was illegal. Pete’s Tavern, the oldest continually running bar in the city, disguised itself as a flower shop during Prohibition—but its original tin ceiling and gorgeous rosewood bar survived, and residents of the nearby town homes and Gramercy condos can pull up and order a beer just as the businessmen of that era might have done.

Photo by:©iStock.com/gianlucabartoli

Interest in wine, and the desire for a greater understanding of its mysteries, has been on the rise for decades in the US. Specialty wine shops and tasting rooms are evidence of this popularity and of the seriousness of the wine-consuming public. The neighborhood around Gramercy, NoMad and the Flatiron District offers some of the best options in New York City for procuring superb wines while also expanding one’s knowledge base of vintages, vineyards, and terroir.

Bottlerocket Wine & Spirit (5 West 19th Street) One word: delivery. In a pinch, Bottlerocket Wine & Spirit will bring wine to your door. They also have an enormous selection of wines from around the world, plus a very knowledgeable staff to help with food pairings and recommendations based on customers’ preference. The bottles at Bottlerocket are categorized by both country and each wine’s best culinary counterpart, which provides an extremely easy shopping experience rarely found in larger shops.

Flatiron Wine and Spirits (929 Broadway) Flatiron Wine and Spirits is decidedly smaller than Bottlerocket, but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in discernment. Nowhere else in the area will you find a selection as refined as the one here. Many of Flatiron’s wines originate from smaller, lesser-known wineries around the globe as the store specializes in bringing hidden gems to the table. Flatiron is the place to find the wine that your friends have never heard of or tasted…until you pour it for them. 

Vin Sur Vingt (1140 Broadway) Vin Sur Vignt is one of The Big Apple’s best little wine bars. It’s small and cozy, with an atmosphere that seems to mirror the quality and subtlety of the wines served here. You’ll only find bottles from French producers here, and accordingly the ambiance at Vin Sur Vingt is elegant and quaint, but never stuffy. In addition to their meticulously cultivated wine list, they have quite an extensive fromage selection and offer finely chosen wine and cheese pairings that are an experience unto themselves. A short walk from a Gramercy condo can lead one to an experience that feels like a momentary visit to Bordeaux.

Wined Up Wine Bar (913 Broadway) Wined Up Wine Bar has a selection that could rival any in the city. Their famous “wine wall” features more than 150 vintage wines from all over the world. And their wine list—very much in the same fashion as Flatiron Wine and Spirits—focuses on the smaller, lesser-known wineries throughout the globe. A sharp and romantic aesthetic permeates the space, creating the perfect atmosphere for discovering that next great wine. A tapas tasting menu gives Wined Up a Spanish twist, and you’ll also find savory accompaniments like tuna tartar, Korean fried chicken, and sesame fried calamari if you arrive with an appetite.

Wine culture in NYC continues to grow, and the residents of Gramercy condos are keenly aware of this. Most new condos at 88 and 90 Lexington Ave. were even constructed with built-in under-counter wine refrigerators that can house 46 bottles at varying temperatures to ensure freshness and  aging, if desired. It’s clear that wine, and the high interest that surrounds it, isn’t going anywhere soon. New York City wine shops around Gramercy and the Flatiron District directly reflect this in their myriad approaches to not only selling wine, but in educating their patrons on the fine art of enjoying it.

Photo by: ©iStock.com/ kieferpix