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Collection by Luke Hopping

Highly Original Homes in NYC's Outer Boroughs

Manhattan may be New York City's creative nexus, but there's plenty of exciting architecture happening a little farther afield (and not just in Brooklyn, either). From prefabs to townhouses, these are seven remarkable residences in the city's four outer boroughs.

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“Do you really like your building?” the Brook’s director, Paul Pavon, was asked by an acquaintance, who compared the appearance of the 90,000- square-foot supportive housing development in New York’s famously blighted South Bronx to that of the Tetris video game. Indeed he does: “If you walk around this neighborhood, not too many buildings look like this. So there’s some kind of pride when the tenants come home.”
“Do you really like your building?” the Brook’s director, Paul Pavon, was asked by an acquaintance, who compared the appearance of the 90,000- square-foot supportive housing development in New York’s famously blighted South Bronx to that of the Tetris video game. Indeed he does: “If you walk around this neighborhood, not too many buildings look like this. So there’s some kind of pride when the tenants come home.”
Dixon inspects a drawing in the couple’s shared office on the home’s top floor. The space features a sloping ceiling that rises to ten feet at one end. The new wood of the inserted ceiling counterpoints the vintage pumpkin pine floorboards underfoot.
Dixon inspects a drawing in the couple’s shared office on the home’s top floor. The space features a sloping ceiling that rises to ten feet at one end. The new wood of the inserted ceiling counterpoints the vintage pumpkin pine floorboards underfoot.
John Hsu's house is a concrete modernist box nestled amid “suburban eclectica,” as architect Drew Lang characterizes the neighborhood’s prevailing style.
John Hsu's house is a concrete modernist box nestled amid “suburban eclectica,” as architect Drew Lang characterizes the neighborhood’s prevailing style.
The first tenement codes were written in the mid-1800s, and this was one of the original buildings for worker housing,” adds DeSimio, who spent many hours researching the building’s records in the municipal archives. “It’s a neat place,” she says. “In the mid-to late 1930s the city took tax photos of every single building in the city—it’s basically Google Maps from 1935.”
The first tenement codes were written in the mid-1800s, and this was one of the original buildings for worker housing,” adds DeSimio, who spent many hours researching the building’s records in the municipal archives. “It’s a neat place,” she says. “In the mid-to late 1930s the city took tax photos of every single building in the city—it’s basically Google Maps from 1935.”
New York City boasts only two Frank Lloyd Wright structures: the Guggenheim Museum, and this modest prefab on Staten Island. The Cass House was built according to the Prefab #1 plan he designed for Erdman's prefab company. According to the New York Times, "It was built late in his life from a plan for prefab moderate-cost housing. The components were made in a Midwest factory and shipped to Staten Island for construction under the supervision of a Wright associate, Morton H. Delson... Wright had planned to tour the Staten Island house, but shortly before his scheduled arrival he became ill and died at age 92 on April 9, 1959." [Photo via Bridge and Tunnel Club]
New York City boasts only two Frank Lloyd Wright structures: the Guggenheim Museum, and this modest prefab on Staten Island. The Cass House was built according to the Prefab #1 plan he designed for Erdman's prefab company. According to the New York Times, "It was built late in his life from a plan for prefab moderate-cost housing. The components were made in a Midwest factory and shipped to Staten Island for construction under the supervision of a Wright associate, Morton H. Delson... Wright had planned to tour the Staten Island house, but shortly before his scheduled arrival he became ill and died at age 92 on April 9, 1959." [Photo via Bridge and Tunnel Club]
The clients nixed a powder coating on the stair treads, fearing it would wear away, but approved it for custom, gray steel vanities in the master bathroom. Bathroom floors look like poured concrete but are actually thin, troweled-on microtopping.
The clients nixed a powder coating on the stair treads, fearing it would wear away, but approved it for custom, gray steel vanities in the master bathroom. Bathroom floors look like poured concrete but are actually thin, troweled-on microtopping.