Bill Rothchild

1955 to encourage improvement of existing apartment buildings, for which the owner received a reduction in the real estate taxes instead of the usual increase in line with the higher valuation. In 1976 the law was broadened to include nonresidential buildings that could be converted to apartments, co-ops, and condominiums. Subject to New York's own rental laws and eligible for Mitchell-Lama limited profit financing, the program prompted the creation of 3580 units of housing city-wide between March 1976 and March 1977.

Despite the latitude in the city program, however, illegal conversion still goes on. The J-51 law requires owners to conform to local zoning laws and codes before qualifying for J-51 abatements. The abatement can only be awarded after the conversion is 90 percent completed. Furthermore, the building has to provide bedrooms equal in number to 50 percent of the number of units created, although the minimum bedroom requirements might be suspended if the building provides open loft spaces of

tures special options addressing the 30-ft rear yard requirement. The law now allows apartment windows to open onto a 20-ft rear yard, a 20-ft interior space, or onto the street. The ten percent ratio of windows-to-floor area in the living room now shifts gradually to 5 percent in 1000 ft spaces.

Still, as architect-developers Peter Nelson and David Solomon point out, tracking down good J-51 buildings isn't that easy. The right kind of dimensions and orientation of the existing building are needed for units that will be competitive with other housing. The structural system of loft buildings more frequently yields long dark bowling-alley-type apartments that may not prove to be very marketable. (Although in New York the axiom is "anything rents.")

Location considerations for the renovated building further complicate the issue: the bank giving the mortgage obviously has to be assured of the economic

PLAN FOURTH FLOOR

PLAN 19TH FLOOR

## Interior architecture

Interiors of apartments show the interesting spatial layout achieved by building in sleeping lofts in the three floors with high ceilings.

Lobby entrance (below) has Corinthian column popping up in its midst.

Because of its unusual corner site, its cast iron façades are load bearing, and the interior structure of heavy timber beams supported by Corinthian columns is on a somewhat irregular grid, due to the sites odd shape. Architect Stephen Jacobs laid out 144 units ranging from studios to three bedrooms with duplex apartments on the upper two floors and commercial spaces on the ground floor. As the rather random grid of columns seldom aligned with the exterior columns, the grid of the exterior walls was chosen (for the most part) as the module for the apartments, leaving cast iron columns to pop up where they might. Besides the standard studio and duplex type apartments, the generous height of the loft building's 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors allowed the architect to design sleeping lofts over the kitchens and baths in all of these units. Costs for this type of renovation, according to the developer, are 20 to 30 percent less than for new construction. Although the architect feels that some corners were cut, these are not evident and the tenants seem quite satisfied with what they are getting for their money.

### Data

**Project:** The Cast Iron Building.

**Architect:** Stephen B. Jacobs & Associates, David M. Lewis, job captain.
**Program:** 144 units of housing in a converted cast iron structure with ground floor commercial use.

**Site:** Broadway and 11th sts, New York City.

**Costs:** $20 per sq ft. (approximate)

**Consultants:** Alvin Fischer & Robert D. Redlief, P.C., structural; Harold Rosen Associates, mechanical.

**Photography:** James Brett.

66

## Interior architecture

# Cast iron conversion

The old McCreary Department Store at the corner of Broadway and 11th streets in New York City, is one of the largest remaining cast iron buildings. Like many other loft-type buildings, it had fallen into disuse and was finally abandoned. Under pressure from artists groups, recent re-zoning in the SoHo area of the city legally permitted living in these buildings and, with a growing demand for this loft-type living as an alternative to high-rise, expensive, drab housing, it seems natural that this building be adapted for similar uses. The developer who had bought the building, however, wanted to demolish it and build a high-rise, but with the help of the Friends of Cast Iron and local community groups who appeared before the Board of Appeals, variances were obtained to make residential renovation economically feasible. The variances allowed two additional floors to be built within the existing building bulk; one was inserted in the 20-ft-high first floor space; the second was built on the roof up to the old cornice height.

THIRD AND FOURTH FLOOR (TYPICAL)

64 Progressive Architecture 2-75

Keyboard colossus

The Piano Craft Guild, built in 1853 by Jonas Chickering
has just been converted into 174 living/working spaces for
Boston's first subsidized artists community. Although par-
tially occupied since the 1930s, the building had fallen be-
hind in taxes and was in a state of physical neglect. In-
spired by the success of the Westbeth project in New York
City, architects Gelardin/Brunner/Cott did a market study
to determine if there was a need for such a project and if
the old piano factory could be converted for such uses.

Convinced by their investigation, the architects, acting as
their own developers, received a loan of a little over $3 mil-
lion from the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency. But
while the loan guaranteed that the project could happen, it
imposed severe budget restrictions—a $10.50 per sq ft
limit. Brick walls were sand blasted and left exposed, as
were miles of sprinklers and electrical conduit. Floors were
sanded and patched where necessary; wood columns and
beams cleaned and left exposed. Dormers were added to
allow 36 duplex apartments on the top floor, and the base-

ment area, accessible from the lobby, was allocated for
commercial use. New gypsum board and stud construction
is simple and minimal, but the design does include several
special features requested by the artist groups; extra large
hallways and doors for moving artwork and supplies easily,
tackboard walls in apartments, electrical outlets at ceiling
height for spotlights, and commercial slop sinks for clean-
up. Apartments range in size from 400-sq-ft studios to
1600-sq-ft three-bedroom units, and the rent structure
varies according to income level. There are also some
20,000 sq ft of work space at roughly $1.60 per sq ft.

While patched floors and little detailing may make the fin-
ished results seem a bit crude, and the enormously long
corridors (150 to 200 ft) give a monotonous, institutional
quality, the success of the project in fulfilling the needs of
an artistic community seems assured. At the same time, the
project will have some positive impact on a section of Bos-
ton that has been struggling to maintain itself as an urban
residential area. [Sharon Lee Ryder]

2:75 Progressive Architecture