Luxury apartments in New York restore and renovate a century-old residential building

COOKFOX Architects has completed a luxury apartment building at 378 West End Avenue in New York City. The project restored and renovated the original residence built in 1915, while extending a new structure east on West 78th Street. 

378 West End Avenue represents a significant conservation effort, according to COOKFOX. The project involved repairing and replacing elaborate terra cotta cresting at the top of the building, a zinc sundial, and ornate brickwork.

The design takes inspiration from the Upper West Side’s architectural history, including Dutch-style row houses, palazzo-type apartment buildings, and more traditional set-back apartment towers. 

Luxury apartment features stepped gables, inspired by adjacent church 

The design team also drew on the architecture of the adjacent structure, the West End Collegiate Church, built in 1892. Specifically, the church’s 17th-century Dutch style of stepped gables informs the stepped profile of 378 West End’s south façade, with windows and terraces formed by the building’s setbacks.

Inside 378 West End Avenue, the entryway features fluted marble and gray wainscoting along with a simple white oak reception desk. The first floor’s public areas include a lounge, kids’ playroom, billiard/club room, and a reading room on a garden terrace. The interiors feature marble flooring as well as natural wool and cotton fibers in rugs, upholstery, and window treatments. 

Downstairs, the building offers a full-regulation squash court, a 75-foot saltwater pool and spa, a music/video room, a sports simulator room, and a half-basketball court.

The spaces emphasize high-performance design and connections to nature to promote health and wellbeing. Many of the light-saturated upper-floor apartments are 4- or 5-bedroom units with outdoor terraces. The units have Energy Star appliances, super-efficient HVAC systems, and high-quality air filtration.

On the Building Team:
Owner/developer: Alchemy Properties 
Design architect: COOKFOX Architects
Historic preservation: Higgins Quasebarth
Landscape architect: Future Green
MEP engineer: WSP
Structural engineer: DeSimone Consulting Engineers
General contractor: Leeding Builders Group (LBG)