apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

omg, omg, omg!!! i live just a few blocks from there. this place is jaw-dropping. if only they'd allow humble neighbors like me inside for a house tour!

Dear God.

Absolutely amazing. Words can't even describe how cool this is!

That's a lot of territory for mice (and *shudder* other thingies) to hide in. I'm just sayin'.

I've always wanted to see what the inside of this building looked like!

Fudge, fudge, fudge!
That place is really, really cool.
Ugh.
Let me go back to the bungalow I used to love.
I think their kitchen is bigger than my whole place!
It ain't easy been green...jealous that is.

Thanks so much for this post. I went to Cooper Union (a few blocks up from here) and used to pass by this building daily for 5 years. I always thought it was abandoned and am so glad to hear this story. so cool.

I walk by this building twice a day, on my way to and from work. Amazing to know what is actually inside as I've spent many walks imagining up different stories!

"Built in 1898, the six-story, 72-room, 35,000-square-foot building is a single-family home, and work space..."

I can't even comprehend what it means to be able to call something like this "home".

This is absolutely, fabulously amazing!!!!!!!!!

www.thebitterfoodie.blogspot.com

I use to dj in the basement of a building right around the corner from here in 1993, 94. Wild. I never knew. I have been walking by here for 15 years. Actually, just yesterday I was standing on the south east corner of Delancey and Bowery looking up at this. From the street you'd think this is a hold out building filled with rent controlled tenants..

This is truly an amazing story....

Wow, really cool. I would love to be a little kid exploring the nooks and crannies of this house. You can rollerblade through the hallways and turn cartwheels through the rooms. It's an enchanted castle! very cool!

I wouldn't sell either, another home would be boring in comparison.

totally astounding. so, so cool.

Wow. Wow, wow. The stuff of dreams...

it is beyond - love all the details they've kept, and that they are really enjoying it.

what an amazing place to live, like an urban castle.

truly amazing.. but imagine trying to keep all that clean as a family home. the dusting!

My maid would not like this post at all.

That's some serious sqftage. A little surprised they didn't rent out space earlier.

a bit too much clutter for me but great colours

I had heard that Maisel lived in there and now I'm so glad I've gotten to see pictures of it. He's a lucky bastard, but I'm also glad he's held on to it and not let it get developed like everything else.

This is the best story ever, I so admire the family for staying put. For years living in NYC I've noticed the mylar in the windows and it was the one sign to me that people actually lived inside this massive beautiful building. Having moved out of NYC due to rising housing prices and general decline of quality of life for self-employed creative types, I raise my fist in solidarity as a general "screw you guys" to the real estate vultures vying to get their hands on this gem.

completely amazing! thiscozyskull, you are exactly right!
it feels like one of kafka's houses/locations in the very best way

A place like this, I can buy all kinds of goodies without worrying about the storage space!
Then I will decorate every room with different theme; space age, victorian, mid-century, Rococco...

Great article.

All that space will make a wonderful homeless shelter in the new socialist republik we're creating!

i had to return to this post: i actually woke up this morning aware that i had just been DREAMING of this place! it affected my subconscious quite deeply, obviously!

Walk by it every morning and always dream of what it may look like inside... AMAZING!!!

Its just amazing buy 102,000$ in 1966 was a lot of money.

hdtex: now you made me think of Katrina

unbelievable--it's such a cool place, the stuff I dream about.

wonderful---would make a good movie---like the HUNGER! I think that is the name of it!
Might feel a bit spooky late at night if one heard a strange noise down on the first floor. I would need lock-down gates every so many floors.
An artist dream!

I've been in this building! It is super awesome. My school took a tour of photographer's studios back in the 90's and this was one of the places we saw. Maisel told us at the time that he purposely left the outside run down, so that no one would suspect that there was anything inside. I remember the half basketball court just inside the door and the vault in the basement.

This just can't be true.

I dreamed about this place last night. :)

This is insane. I can't imagine who would need this much space. I hope more than one person lives there.

i wanted to kinda hate them, but you have to like them once you read the story. it's like a dream or something. & that buy took guts. still, i think they should rent a floor. then, they could just hire people to clean the mess outside or security.

am i dreaming? people actually live like this? who DISCOVERS a room?!?!? incredible

A homeless shelter in "the new socialist republic we are creating"! Now that would be a waste of space unless of course it is part of a rehabilitation/work program and the owners donated it...otherwise what right do you have to assume that the "socialist republic" has any claim to a property they have done nothing to preserve or create! Communism is a wonderful theory but time and again it disproves itself in the real world...and socialism is no better...talk about stifling creativity...how would that be any better than the other extreme...another overpriced real estate development? I'm inspired to see individuals exercising freedom of expression, the right to own property and basically the pursuit of happiness! Good for them!