By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP
THEN: 1980’s view of 398-403 West Street.This block of West Street includes two redbrick buildings (now 403 and 404 West, aka 170 Charles Street), originally residences built in 1852. From 1890 to 1990 they were used as stables, storage, or repair shops. In 1990, they were turned back into residential use.The darker-redbrick (401-402 West Street), built in 1947 as machine shops, were demolished after Superstorm Sandy. The “Blue Box” machine shop at 400 West Street was built in 1946 as a two-story residence. The plywood-faced machine shop at 399 West Street was built circa the 1940s. And the restaurant at 398 West Street was originally a residence built circa 1900.
Just out of the picture, on the right, are the still extant, circa 1904, buildings at 396-397 West Street, the former Holland Hotel for seamen, with a turreted corner embellishment. They have been unoccupied since flooded by Superstorm Sandy. 396-398 West Street are part of the 2006 “Weehawken Street Historic District. Photo credit: Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP).
NOW: This rendering (displayed by Galahad; photo by Brian Pape) shows the latest developments on this block. A 10 unit residential, 7-story infill, at 401 and 402 West Street, by 401 West Property Owner LLC (Galahad Advisers), and designed by Hill West Architects and Thomas Juul-Hansen. It is due to be completed in 2019.
Within this rendering, we also see the 403/404 redbrick residences on the left, and also the white-clad single-family townhouse constructed for Robert and Cortney Novogratz, and their 7 children, as a live-work design studio (right side). They bought 400 West Street, a circa 1946 building, in 2007 and more than tripled its size. The 5-story home has an indoor basketball court/screening room behind the private garage, a stainless steel and glass stairway and elevator, a wood-burning pizza oven, 5 bedrooms and several roof terraces, but no basement. It sold in 2016 for $14.5 million to an overseas buyer.
On the far right side, the rendering shows a sliver of the red-brick townhouse built in 1999 at 399 West Street, for Kam Fong Chin, as a single-family residence.
We now wonder how long it will be until someone restores the old 1904 Holland Hotel buildings within the Weehawken Street Historic District? Soon, we hope.
