Fans of ultraluxury living can get an early Christmas gift from the designers behind the world's skinniest skyscraper.
Studio Sofield, a New York-based firm, has unveiled the interiors of the Steinway Tower, the newly constructed 1,428 foot-tall tower overlooking Central Park. The opulent midtown Manhattan landmark was built on a site that was once occupied by the historic Steinway Sons piano company.
The 91-story skyscraper, also known as 111 West 57th Street, contains 46 full-floor and duplex residences. Photos released this month by the designers show opulent lobbies decked out in limestone, marble, blackened steel and velvet, floors paved in smoke-gray solid oak and original artworks by Picasso and Matisse.
According to Studio Sofield, the interiors of the Steinway Tower were designed to evoke the grandeur of New York's Gilded Age, a period in the late 19th century when the city's boulevards were lined with the stately mansions of robbers like Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt. It is located on a Midtown street, filled with gleaming towers, that has become known as Billionaire's Row. The founder of Studio Sofield, William Sofield, told CNN he wanted to make the tower feel unmistakably New York.
He said that we've all been to very luxurious places, but I wanted to create a building that could not be anywhere else in the world. I know so many people have multiple homes, who will have apartments here. I wanted to create a very unique experience that could only be had in New York. The interiors of the building include an 82-foot swimming pool housed in a light-filled room with floor-to- ceiling windows and a row of Kentia palms. There is a modern take on New York's legendary King Cole Bar, complete with an ornamental balcony and custom gold and silver murals.
Private dining rooms with a chef's catering kitchen, a golf simulator and a landscaped terrace are some of the amenities that are included.
Sofield said that I'm very personal in my work. So take the swimming pool, for example, because I didn't want it to feel like a normal swimming pool. It has a wooden paneling with great detail and gold leaf details.
He added that it has a vaulted ceiling. It has draperies. It is one of the tallest buildings in the Western hemisphere, standing just short of two others in New York City: The 1,776 foot-tall One World Trade Center and the 1,550 foot-tall Central Park Tower.
Super-slender skyscrapers, also known as pencil towers, became standout features of the Hong Kong skyline in the 1970s and major cities such as New York have followed suit.
The Manhattan skyscraper houses, developed by the JDS Development Group and Property Markets Group, range in price from $7.75 million to $66 million.