With its impressive scale and many historic features intact, the building is now the latest in a new wave of rehabilitations of large industrial plants, including a well-known project at One Brooklyn Bridge Park that was, at one time, selling for $1,000 per square foot. Although these types of structures often present more challenges than typical renovations or new construction, the large space, quality of the historic design and construction, and opportunity for innovation make such projects attractive for developers and builders. They also often spur revitalization of their surrounding neighborhoods, something the PowerHouse design team believes will happen with Long Island City.
“We wanted to respect the existing building because it had a certain character,” Fischer says. “Our challenge was to maintain the existing building and accommodate new additions on top to maximize the potential development rights.”
Compromises
Designed by the McKim, Mead & White—the acclaimed architecture firm responsible for such notable buildings as New York’s bygone Pennsylvania Station and the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.—the power plant was built in 1906 to provide electricity for the Long Island and Pennsylvania Railroads. The structure’s classical proportions and large arched windows were typical of the turn-of-the-century City Beautiful era, but it was the tall, 275-foot smokestacks—visible for miles—that really made the building distinctive.
Because of this, an early design for the project incorporated the chimneys. “The chimneys were landmarks in terms of their size and height,” Fischer says. “So we did a design where we tried to maintain the chimneys and straddle in between them a 4- or 5-story glass box that would span the four chimneys. That was a very unique design, but it didn’t quite fit into the definition of what the zoning would allow.”
The design team worked to convince city planning officials that the chimneys were structures and the new building should be allowed to equal their height, but they were overruled. As a result, the four chimneys were razed—yet they inspired one of the most striking aspects of the new PowerHouse design. The team echoed their classic shape in a new 4-story addition above the original structure’s seven floors. Four circular metal-and-glass towers are placed exactly where the chimneys once stood and are incorporated into the residential floor plans. Aluminum-composite panels were selected to clad the exterior of the addition and complement the original brick.
Remembering the Past
In addition to the warm copper color of the aluminum-composite panels, the new towers visually extend the lines of the existing building, whose historic features were retained as much as possible. The design team kept the distinctive arched windows as well as some exposed steel and other structural elements to capture some of the building’s original industrial feel. Yet preserving such elements was challenging, according to Schwimmer. The team had to remove old coal hoppers and remove a wall to allow for the addition, as well as work out a tricky sequence between demolition and construction, given the fragility of the century-old building.
Four circular metal-and-glass towers are placed exactly where the chimneys once stood and are incorporated into the residential floor plans. Aluminum-composite panels were selected to clad the exterior of the addition and complement the original brick.
“The building’s original walls were 80-something-feet high and were secured by a number of structural elements on the interior that we had to demolish,” Schwimmer says. “Because of that, we had to carefully demolish a section, then stabilize it and then do some construction before repeating the process again.”
If the exterior of the PowerHouse condo embraces its rugged industrial past, the interior offers a cool minimalist aesthetic that conveys an upscale sense of comfort and luxury. Loft-style apartments have fluid floor plans with high ceilings and American walnut floors. Kitchens feature stone countertops and glass-tiled backsplashes with cabinets, breakfast bars and islands marrying dark hardwood with white lacquered wood cabinetry. This interplay between light and dark is mimicked in the bathrooms, which feature marble tiling and wood-paneled cabinets, along with oversized tubs and double vanities. In the lobby, a limited materials palette combines industrial elements, such as steel in exposed girders and a stainless-steel reception desk, with sleek wood, glass and brick elements.
Views from the PowerHouse are spectacular. Residents are treated to unparalleled vistas of mid-town Manhattan—including the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building to the west. Yet thanks to the careful blending of old and new, the PowerHouse Condominium is once again something worth looking at itself and a luxurious place to live in an up-and-coming area, as well. “It’s always nice to live in an old, historic building,” Fischer says. “Especially in the public areas, we believe we maintained the charm of the old power plant.”