Richard Meier

Russian Vogue's Aliona Doletskaya was reportedly introduced as "the next editor of American Vogue" at an event in Moscow. A spokesman for the still-Anna Wintour-helmed operation responded: "These variations are nothing unusual for magazine publishing, and we have the greatest admiration for every editor in chief of all the international Vogues." [P6]

Like many of us, Charlize Theron does not understand the popularity of The Hills. "Why is it so big?" she asked a reporter. "It's about nothing!" [US Weekly]

Natalie Portman and musician Devendra Banhart have broken up. [People]

Richard Meier's 28-year-old son, Joseph, is claiming that the architect--who is "known for having an appreciative eye for beautiful women"--forced him into Mount Sinai Psychiatric Hospital when he discovered his famous father was gay.  read more »

The Observer's Irina Aleksander caught up with the starchitect at a Vanity Fair party on Monday:

Architect Richard Meier, who lately has become known for designing costly Manhattan apartment buildings, seemed somewhat more disturbed by the news. “I don’t know how to deal with it or what it means. Certainly, it’s going to have a serious effect on my work here.”

When asked just how long our economic troubles might last, Mr. Meier said, “Hopefully, two or three more hours.” Then he tilted his head back and took a swig of Champagne.

Irina Aleksander is sad to report that the parents of charmingly kooky socialite Arden Wohl have separated, and dad Larry has been spotted around town with a woman who is not his wife Denise.

Ms. Aleksander also stopped by Barneys on Monday evening for a book party celebrating Graydon Carter's new tome, Vanity Fair: The Portraits, A Century of Iconic Images, where she asked champagne-sipping guests like Barry Diller, Richard Meier, and Fran Lebowitz how the latest financial news would affect the city.

George Gurley headed to the Soho Grand to hang out with the stars of the new film Ghost Town, where he found James Lipton gruff, and Greg Kinnear and Ann Dexter-Jones characteristically sunny. She loves orchids! And her kids!

And Spencer Morgan speaks to one of the partners of beleaguered downtown club The Box, whose liquor license is up for review. In this city, hell hath no fury like a neighbor who can't sleep!  read more »

Natalie Portman would like to ditch her three-bedroom, three-bath apartment in Richard Meier's West Village glass tower at 165 Charles Street, the Post reported this morning.

Ms. Portman, who bought the 2,500-square-foot place in 2005 for $5.7 million, has placed the apartment on the market for $6.55 million. The listing went to Andy Fink and Nancy Teague at the Corcoran Group.

Mr. Meier's West Side buildings, which appear entirely see-through from the outside, have nonetheless drawn privacy-seeking celebrities like Heather Graham, who just bought a place in the Meier-designed 173 Perry Street. Martha Stewart's daughter Alexis and Mr. Meier's own daughter Ana both reside at 165 Charles.

Lately, the demure Ms. Portman has been spending quite a bit of time in Los Angeles with her boyfriend, long-haired Venezuelan-American folk singer-songwriter Devendra Banhart. Perhaps the pair will be seeking out something a bit less shiny.

[Via Curbed]

Scarlett Johansson's brother, Hunter, who until recently worked for Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, has reportedly left to work for the Obama campaign. Now they can both have regular email correspondence with the candidate. [P6]

Even though Roman Abramovich reportedly paid Amy Winehouse $2 million to perform at his girlfriend Dasha Zhukova's Moscow gallery last week, she still couldn't make it onto the stage on time. [NY Daily News]  read more »

Where did all the skinny spiral staircases go? That was a time.    read more »

• Is there anything more fascinating than mutinous discontent among the biggest (and smallest) power brokers in Manhattan? Probably not. There's a petition going around protesting the new REBNY portal--which The Observer reported on earlier this month. Back then, REBNY's Fred Peters joked: "We're trying to negotiate toward the point of equal unhappiness." Indeed. [Curbed]
• Tragically, a 4,000-square-foot condo at Richard Meier's 176 Perry Street building is having lots of trouble selling. After lux price slashing, the place is down to a (modest?) $7.65 million. [D.I./NY Mag]
• Our friend Paolo Zampolli is getting some serious attention. And he deserves it: the man is inventing model real esate. ("Model" as in "extremely attractive" girls "who dress accordingly.") [The Australian, via Gawker]
• The fifth annual EPA National Awards for Smart Growth Achievement have been handed out to lucky cities like Witchita, Chicago and Winooski, Vt. And why not New York City? Because we're too busy paying attention to model real estate agents and price-slashed star condos and juicy REBNY gossip. [Arch News Now]
- Max Abelson  read more »
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Developers Louis Greco Jr. and Mario Procida have teamed up to form SDS Procida. Why does that matter? The new group is developing Richard Meier's On Prospect Park, the 114-unit condo at 1 Grand Army Plaza. (A good start.)

Plus, the press release mentions "intelligent design" in the requisite paragraph on respecting local residential and business communities. Meier, after all, is God.

The full release is after the jump.

- Max Abelson

(Update: "On Prospect Park" is not "One Prospect Park." Thanks, comment board!)  read more »

With summer on the way, there's no better time for a trend piece on pools in new condominiums.

"Condo Market Takes a Dip,"New York, May 22, 2006 Issue.

Brokers and developers say at least a dozen buildings with swimming pools as one of their major attractions--that is, apart from the apartments themselves--are catching buyers' eyes as never before. To wit: Arris Lofts in Long Island City; the Element condo at 555 West 59th Street; 115-119 Norfolk Street; 10 West End Avenue; 15 Broad Street; Andre Balazs's 40 Mercer (with pools inside the most exclusive units); and, at 165 Charles Street, a Richard Meier-designed, 55-foot infinity-edge pool.

"Everybody Into the Pool," New York Times, May 14, 2006.

More than a dozen residential buildings under construction or created within the last year will have, or already have, swimming pools, including One York Street, 200 Chambers Street, 15 Central Park West, the Atelier, 20 Pine Street, Element and Ariel West. Last Tuesday, the completion of the lap pool at 165 Charles Street in the West Village was celebrated with a poolside chat with the architect, Richard Meier.

Now that the "condo pools" trend have been taken care of, publicists need to send out the "hot Hamptons rentals" pitches immediately.

- Michael Calderone

Yesterday, the Board of Standards and Appeals gave the go-ahead to continue construction on an eight-story residential development at 163 Charles Street in the far West Village.

The neighborhood was recently down-zoned after a concerted push by area residents and activist groups, most notably the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.

GVSHP executive director Andrew Berman has been at the forefront of many battles around the nabe; after the down-zoning, he's been trying stop projects that were conspicuously started right before the height limits went into effect. But with limited success.

Artist Julien Schnabel just received a pass to continue construction on his 12-story tower on West 11th Street; Diane von Furstenberg's former studio and residence at 387-91 West 12th Street, which was sold for $21 million to Coalco, a Russian-owned development company, was slated to be the site of a 150-foot Christian de Portzamparc-designed glass-box tower. That project is in limbo.

163 Charles is just east of the three Richard Meier-designed towers that started the rush to build--and limit the height of--new buildings in the neighborhood.  read more »

(City Realty)

-Matthew Grace

Last week, The Observer reported on the ongoing battle in the West Village that has entangled artist Julian Schnabel at 360 West 11th Street, as well as, Richard Meier’s partners at 166 Perry Street. Mr. Schnabel’s proposed 110-foot addition to his three-story stable building particularly infuriated neighbors and preservationists.

The City Council passed a downzoning of the West Village a month ago, and a dispute rages over whether Mr. Schnabel’s building is “vested” and should be grandfathered through under the old zoning rules (the maximum height of new developments dropped from 200 to 100 feet).

This morning, an e-mail circulated from the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation stating that Mr. Schnabel’s building had been officially stopped. However, that work stoppage appears temporary.

“There is clearly a stop-work order in place,” said Andrew Berman, executive director of the GVSHP. “It’s clearly on the basis that the current work would not conform with the current zoning. Whether or not that is temporary or permanent, we are waiting to find out.”

The final decision from the Department of Buildings still hasn’t been reached.

“It’s still in flux,” said a spokesperson for the Department of Buildings. “[Julian Schnabel and his partners] haven’t addressed our concerns at this time. If, going forward, we revoke the permit, they have the option to go to [the Board of Standards and Appeals] to appeal.”  read more »

We'll keep you posted.

-Michael Calderone

“I think it is a departure from the ordinary developer buildings that are hailed as luxury,” said architect Annabelle Selldorf. “I feel strongly that this is going to be an exceptional residential building in lower Manhattan.”

Today at noon, roughly 40 topping out party-goers donned hardhats and braved the windy rooftop of the new Urban Glass House, the last residential commission of the late Philip Johnson. Architect Alan Ritchie was on hand, along with developer Charles Blaichman, who has profited nicely from a previous high-end, modern condo project—the first two Richard Meier buildings.

And like the the Perry Street fishbowl, marketing is king. For the Urban Glass House there have already been giant billboards, and promotional materials stressing the connection to Johnson's iconic home in New Canaan.

“He was the one who supported calling this The Urban Glass House. What he was thinking about—I venture to speculate—was not so much that it is identical to the Glass House in Connecticut, but he was referring to the light and space and air that he afforded this building, introducing these floor to ceiling glass partitions.”  read more »

After the coffee and sandwiches, everyone left the event with a hardcover promotional book that included a short Johnson biography and, of course, full-color interior shots of the building's super-sleek amenities. And even if you can’t afford your own modernist residence (prices expected to run from $1.6 to $10 million), the gift bags emblazoned with close-ups of the architects still makes quite the fashion statement.

-Michael Calderone

Artist and socialite Julian Schnabel has lived and worked quietly at his home and studio in a squat,  read more »

In case your invitation got lost in the mail, New York Social Diary has photos from Wednesday's 740 Park party.

What's another night of champagne, air kisses, and chatting with Richard Meier. Only David Koch decided to show up, as the co-op's other residents hid in their palatial apartments.  read more »

Simply mortified!

-Michael Calderone

In April 2004, gallery owner Barbara Gladstone signed a contract at Richard Meier's latest residential project, 165 Charles Street, as reported a few months later by New York magazine. Well, the deal finally closed earlier this month for $4.75 million, according to deed transfer records. (Ms. Gladstone is in Europe and could not be reached for comment.

After the success of Mr. Meier's two Perry Street condominiums, the 16-story glass and white metal tower under construction near the Hudson River has been watched closely in both real-estate and art world circles. The latter can be attributed to the sleek design, and possibly because the building included its own curator, Lehman Maupin Gallery. Larry Gagosian even dropped by a reception in one of the sample apartments, as Artforum reported.  read more »

Ms. Gladstone is not the first art world big shot to grab a pre-construction deal. Magazine publisher Louise T. Blouin MacBain reportedly signed a contract for the $20 million duplex penthouse. Incidentally, that's over $4,500 per square-foot. Formerly head of Phillips, de Pury and Company, Ms. MacBain owns industry standards, including Art & Auction, Modern Painters, and Gallery Guide.

-Michael Calderone

Greenwich Village dwellers and preservationists won a battle today when the City Planning Commission voted to limit the height and scale of new developments in the far West Village, a haven of luxury real-estate speculation since the infamous Perry Street celebridorm by Richard Meier, overexposed both literally and figuratively, went up along the Hudson River.

The City Planning Commission voted unanimously today to approve a down-zoning of the Far West Village that imposes strict regulations on developers for quite some time into the future.

Developers interested in the neighborhood are not pleased.

During a hearing last week, proponents of the rezoning pleaded with commission chair Amanda Burden to take action quickly, as developers were gearing up to start their projects before the rezoning could take effect; apparently, she listened.

Two glaring exceptions to the rezoning remain: the Superior Ink Factory (pictured), at 70 Bethune Street, where Related Companies plans to build a 120-foot residential tower, and the Whitehall Storage site, at Charles and West streets, where the Witkoff Group is planning a 175-foot tower.

Now, the City Council has to vote on the rezoning, which should happen before Thanksgiving, according to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.  read more »

- Matthew Grace

While Manhattan celebrities have flocked to Richard Meier's glass-sheathed buildings, tossing a few thousand dollars per square foot, Italians are feeling differently, according to The Guardian.  read more »

Decrying "architectural mongrelization," 35 Italian architects sent an open letter urging officials to stop the practice of using international starchitects for future public projects, museums, and galleries.

-Michael Calderone

The two men in black loitering outside Richard Meier’s glass tower, hard by the West Side High  read more »

On a recent Thursday evening, Louise Sunshine, president of the real-estate marketing and brokerage  read more »

When Richard Meier unveiled the luminous glass towers at 173 and 176 Perry Street in 2002, the scyth  read more »

Robert De Niro isn't the only Tribecanto decide that he's had enough of the trendy neighborhood.  read more »

Universal Television chairman Michael Jackson has plunked down $2.6 million for a 1,808-square-foot  read more »

Why is it that announcements of new art-museum construction, which used to bring cheer to so many ar  read more »

On the evening of Nov.  read more »

Occupying a similar position that the Parthenon does in the hills above Athens, the Getty Center, wh  read more »

The Architecture Pack , by Ron van der Meer and Deyan Sudjic. Alfred E. Knopf, $50, 14 pages.  read more »