Meet the hearty New Yorkers who live in rare pink buildings – New York Post

Theyre tickled pink!

Pink architecture may be more associated with the Art Deco facades of Miami Beach, but New York City has a handful of bubble gum-hued buildings of her own.

Across downtown Manhattan, amid the brownstones and tenement buildings, sit a handful of rosy structures beloved by neighbors and passersby.

Some, like the townhouse at 114 Waverly Place, have been pink for decades, while others, like the West Villages quirky Palazzo Chupi, are more recent additions to the skyline.

A few, highlighted here, have fascinating backstories. Other blushing beauties, like 210 W. 15th St., remain a mystery.

But they all inject a little joy and love into the streetscape.

Pink is our favorite color, says Robert Novogratz, 57, who, with his wife Cortney, 48, became the fourth owners of coral-colored 114 Waverly Place last summer when they bought it for $8.5 million from the estate of late neighborhood fixture Celeste Martin.

The nearly 200-year-old home hadnt been touched in decades, and The Novogratz, as the design duo is known, have embarked on a gut renovation to turn the 5,410-square-foot structure into their family home. (The famed facade is currently hidden under scaffolding.)

Inside, the couple, who have seven kids, found rooms just as whimsical as the facade, cloaked in emerald and mint greens, teal and blush and even red Scalamandre zebra wallpaper. They intend to honor that history. Robert describes their vision as Gucci meets Royal Tenenbaums classic, cool, colorful. Its a very happy house, he adds.

This is our ninth townhouse [renovation] in Manhattan, and its the most special townhouse youve ever seen, says Robert. It also happens to be the couples first project that is landmarked, and, as a result, theyve run into an unexpected complication: the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) wants to do away with the beloved pink and see it painted brown, the original color when the home was built in 1826.

But its been pink for 50 years, and The Novogratz want it to stay that way. Were fighting them to keep it pink, Robert says. Throughout the entire city, its known as the pink house. Were petitioning to keep the pink.

On the Lower East Side, theres another landmarked structure with a pink facade: a five-story loft building with a rounded corner and partial cast-iron facade at the corner of Orchard and Grand streets.

Constructed in 1886 as the Ridley & Sons Department Store, it was occupied by garment manufacturers during the 1930s.

Today, the upper-level lofts are home to artists like Egon Zippel, who lives in a 2,800-square-foot apartment on the fourth floor with his wife Johanna Schwarzbeck.

The pink was a 1990s upgrade, suggested by the previous owners wife.

As Alfred Goldman told The New York Times in 2011, it was just an ugly building, and his wife, feeling inspired from a recent trip to Florida, felt a fresh coat of paint would cheer up the dreary neighborhood.

And while the LPC will likely require the color to change if the building is ever renovated, its safe for now.

In fact, after a fire damaged part of the facade in 2014, that portion was repainted a slightly different shade.

I like the pink, says Zippel, 53, who has enjoyed his live/work space in the building since 2003. I wish they would repaint the whole thing.

The pink facade was an immediate draw when Georgia Nixon, 29, and Jason Kodym, 38, first viewed their apartment at 218 E. Fifth St.

I told all my friends it was a Barbie princess house in New York, says Nixon. The couple moved into a one-bedroom garden unit two years ago, and have only become more enamored with their cotton candy-colored home. I have a ton of photos on my phone of every person who has visited who wants their photo out on our stoop, she says, adding that they often hear passersby exclaiming over the facade. People just love being near the pink house.

218 E. Fifth first got its pink facade in the 1980s, when then-owner Noel Tursi took a cue from his longtime companion Celeste Martin, who had, by that point, already bathed 114 Waverly Place (now owned by The Novogratz, as above) in a rosy hue.

People just love being near the pink house.

And to Joel Gillman and Lindsey Testolin, both 34, who have lived in two different apartments at 218 E. Fifth St. over four years. Ideally, we die in this building, hopefully a long time from now, jokes Gillman.

The couple started in a one-bedroom on the third floor, and moved to a similar unit on the top floor for a better kitchen and more light. The facade does attract Instagrammers, Testolin notes, and even the occasional prom photo shoot. We love hanging out on our stoop, and weve come to realize its a constant situation, she says. But its a small burden. Gillman adds, I kind of like it. It makes me feel fancy.

Both couples agree: The unusual hue makes the building easy to find for cab drivers and visitors. None of my friends know the address, says Kodym. They just look for the pink house.

The signature hue that residents love, though, might be in danger. We currently have an application with the NYC Landmarks Preservation committee to repaint the same pink color in the spring, Leahy tells The Post, but expect to be denied keeping the building pink if we repaint.

New Yorks most famous pink building, perhaps, is its newest. Built in 2008 by artist Julian Schnabel, the peculiar condo at 360 W. 11th St. looks like arched Venetian palace was plopped on top of a 20th-century factory building.

Construction was met with protests when it began in 2005, but ultimately Schnabel was able to bring what he as as a 50,000-square-foot piece of art to life.

I built it because I wanted more space, and because I thought I could sell two or three apartments to pay for that space, and I built it because I could, Schnabel told the Times in 2008.

The original three-story warehouse at the base of the Palazzo holds Schnabels studio, as well as a pool, a garage and exhibition space. The palazzo holds five giant units two duplexes, a triplex and two floor-through units. One is occupied by Schnabel himself, another by his art dealer son Vito.

The other apartments sold for between $10.7 million and $12.2 million each, per StreetEasy.

Residents must like it: There have been no resales in the last decade.

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Meet the hearty New Yorkers who live in rare pink buildings - New York Post