La Grenouille is the last French haute cuisine restaurant from the 1960s. Charles Masson sr., apprentice to Henri Soule, founded the establishment in 1962 within on 3 East 52^nd Street in the heart of the Garment District. Consequently, La Grenouille is not only known for its food but the clientele. New York fashion designers and creative directors have flocked to this center of fashion industry personalities. In 2012, the restaurant won the James Beard Foundation for outstanding service.

From its inceptions, La Grenouille has been famous for its lavish floral arrangements. Charles Masson sr began this tradition that has come to define the experience. The floral arrangements have become so iconic that every top tier New York restaurant seeks to imitate it.

The five star restaurant experience provides the most elegant French cuisine. Start out your dinner with chilled asparagus and poached quail eggs. Move on to lobster ravioli “beurre blanc” tarragon sauce or roasted French free range chickens. Order frog legs in butter and garlic for the entire table. End your evening with a wonderful iced grapefruit with vodka as your friends choose from soufles.

Due to the 2020 pandemic, La Grenouille has temporarily transitioned to an outdoor dining experience. In addition to its take-out and delivery service, La Grenouille allows for patrons to sit outside and enjoy the summer nights in a suddenly serene Manhattan.

Just south of the Upper West Side stands Addison Hall is a pre-war building rising 16 stories into the sky. Located on 457 W 57^th Street, its canopied entrance complements the red brick style. With condominiums beginning at $250,000, Addison Hall represents both an investment and a wonderful starter apartment for Manhattan professionals. Additionally the 24-hour doorman service, laundry room, bike room and live-in super, render Addison Hall the perfect building for the busy professional.                   

Built in 1930 with a design by Joseph A. Moller Inc, the building exudes old world luxury with high beamed ceilings making for spacious sun-drenched apartments. The oak stripped hardwood floors compliment the renovated bathrooms and new fixtures. Outside the building lies one of the most vibrant and artistic neighborhoods in New York City with Central Park, The Faerie Den, Columbus Circle, the Hudson River and Lincoln Center within walking distance.

Addison Hall is a co-op that emphasizes quiet and beauty

Famed fashion designer Derek Lam and his husband Jan-Hendrik Schlottmann make their home in a 3BR/3.5BA pad at 50 Gramercy Park North. Their home has an air of casual elegance with abundant wood paneling and lush views of the iconic Gramercy Park. Built in 1925 and redesigned recently by British architect John Pawson, the apartment has a 40-foot expanse of floor-to-ceiling windows to bathe the home in rich natural light and offer beautiful views of Gramercy Park.

Due to the designs of John Pawson, the building fuses contemporary with classic in a modern geometric structure. The building includes 180 hotel rooms and 23 condominium apartments. Most apartments have 18-food high ceilings and a key to the park. Pawson designed the kitchen with American cherry wood, satin-finished Varenna cabinetry and double sinks. The master bedrooms have deep oversize tubs and walk-in showers.

San Francisco born Lam met Schlottmann in 1997 when they were both on holiday in Thailand. A year later, Schlottmann moved into Lam’s Greenwich Village home. They have been together ever since. In 2003, they pooled their savings and launched the Derek Lam as a brand with Schlottman as CEO. Derek Lam has designed clothing for many celebrities including Rachel Weisz, Rihanna, and Kendall Jenner.

Lam and Schlottmann had lived in many places throughout lower Manhattan but when they saw Gramercy, the found it charm personified. The apartment is furnished with memories of their more than two decades as a couple with a yellow velvet sofa for relaxation and an interior designed by Neal Beckstedt. The table was bought from Lam’s first paycheck from Michael Kors in 1991. Chuck Close’s portrait of Sienna Shields takes center place in their art collection, which also includes abstract work by Jim Lee and wall covering by Madeleine Castaing.

Located in Chelsea, The Rubin Museum is an oasis of eastern Himalayan culture, ideas, and art. The Rubin Museum was founded by Shelley and Donald Rubin who began collecting Himalayan art in the 1970s. In 1995, they established the Shelly & Donald Rubin Foundation to promote social justice and art throughout the Himalayas and New York City. The Foundation was instrumental in helping to adopt technology for health care issues. 

With their Foundation and their art collection, they purchased the former Barney’s department store in Chelsea and converted it into the Rubin Museum of Art. Within a year of its 2004 opening, the Dalai Lama visited and blessed the museum, citing its importance in preserving Himalayan art. 

The Rubin Museum's impressive collection of Himalayan art includes more than 3500 pieces spanning more the 1500 years. The artwork originates from areas diverse as the Tibetan Plateau, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Mongolia, and China. 

The Rubin Museum has many exhibits and lectures. Recent speakers have included Nisi Shawl, Aaron Fotheringham, and Julianna Margulies. Often the exhibits are interactive including the Measure Your Existence which allows visitors to interact with the fleeting impermanence of life in all destruction, regeneration and immediacy. 

In the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room, an immersive experience greets visitors with art and ritual objects based on a traditional shrine in the Kagyu tradition. The design showcases offerings, devotional prayer rituals and contemplation. 

The Ruben Museum is open Thursday to Monday with tours offered at 1 pm & 3 pm every day. In addition to lectures and exhibits, the Rubin Museum offers classes and opportunities for meditation and yoga. 

Chelsea’s Walker Tower at 212 West 18^th Street is one of the most appealing Art Deco residential buildings in Manhattan. When JDS Development converted the Verizon Building in 2014, they incorporated the building’s design details, meticulously restoring the elaborate brick façade. Interested buyers have included Cameron Diaz and Jeff Bezos.  

With 18-inch thick walls, bedrooms larger than most New York apartments and 14-foot ceilings, the apartments are virtual fortresses for celebrities and investors seeking privacy and quiet in the middle of Chelsea. The apartments have spacious foyers and showers. One duplex offers custom marble interiors and French herringbone oak flooring.

The building was originally designed by Ralph Thomas Walker, one of the premiere architects of Art Deco and Depression era icons. Walker designed many classic Art Deco skyscrapers including the Barclay-Vesey Telephone Building and One Wall Street. In order to give his building a commanding presence, Walker used nine shapes of brick with five different hues. Walker believed that the architect must be a psychologist in order for the “architect to design a building for man to be mentally comfortable in as it is for him to design one in which he will be physically comfortable” [1]

Currently, individual condos are selling for as high as $31 million, with prices increasingly dramatically when current owners choose to sell them.

[1] Cohen, Julie (writer & producer) (2014). Treasures of New York: Ralph Walker (TV program). WLIW. 

520 Park Avenue holds 35 residences within a 64 story limestone condominium tower. It was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects and developed by Zeckendorf Development. The tower is located at 60th Street between Park and Madison Avenue. 56 Leonard's 17,000 square feet of facilities include a 75 ' infinity swimming pool, indoor / outdoor cinemas, outdoor sundeck, gym, therapy facilities, steam room, sauna, lounge and a playroom for children. One of the Penthouses was sold for about $68 million dollars.

“High above the Museum of Modern Art, mere blocks from Central Park and Fifth Avenue, in the epicenter of New York’s global business, arts, theater and cultural districts, a modern, elegantly tapering tower is rising.” – Streeteasy
53 West 53rd Street was designed by Pritzker Prize-Winning architect Jean Nouvel. Behind its unique façade are perfectly detailed residences designed by renowned interior designer Thierry Despont, each large and light-filled, unlike any other apartment.

520 West 28th presents New York City's iconic new landmark. Designed by Pritzker's award-winning architect Zaha Hadid and created by Related, one of the nation's leading luxury housing property developers, this boutique condo building provides 39 exclusive two-to five-bedroom houses by the renowned Iraqi-British architect and artist. Hadid, whose globally important workplace is characterized by nature-inspired organic forms and graceful curves, introduces this distinctive sensibility to 520 West 28th – her first contribution to the skyline of Manhattan. Located in the core of West Chelsea, right on the High Line.

At the gateway to Tribeca, the Woolworth Building rises above City Hall Park. This graceful tower continues an elegant jewel in downtown Manhattan's skyline, unprecedented in size and sophistication when it was first finished in 1913. The top thirty floors were masterfully converted into The Woolworth Tower Residences by famous French architect Thierry W Despont: a restricted collection of thirty-two luxury Tribeca condominium houses on top of a famous landmark in New York.

111 West 57th Street, also known as the Steinway Tower, reflects a dedication to the quality of the craft, history and philosophy behind the classic skyscrapers of New York City. The graceful tower, designed by Studio Sofield's SHoP Architects with interiors, will rise to a height of 1,428 feet when finished. Once finished, the tower will be one of the tallest structures in the United States, as well as the world's thinnest skyscraper.