Restoration architect Joseph Pell Lombardi’s bid to build a unique glass-clad apartment building in Tribeca cleared an all-important hurdle May 5. The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the project, saying it is an appropriate addition to Tribeca's historic district.

The “Glass Atelier,” a see-through, six-story building with a façade influenced by many of Tribeca’s 19th century Romanesque loft buildings, will go up on Greenwich Street between Beach and Hubert streets. To make way for the new project, a vacant two-story building at 403 Greenwich St. will be demolished and a six-story office building at 401 Greenwich St.—built just seven years ago—will be stripped to its steel frame.

The project, proposed for the Tribeca West Historic District, required the commission's endorsement before work could begin. The commissioners approved the demolition and the new construction, calling Lombardi’s proposed building “thrilling” and “intriguing.”

“It’s carefully done, and it’s sensitively done considering the scale and design of this district,” Commission chairman Robert Tierney said.

The building’s entire façade would be made with clear glass bricks, and its steel frame, covered in white concrete to appear “ghost-like,” hides in plain sight behind them. The side and rear walls would be made of traditional masonry bricks.

 

(It was previously reported that the side and rear walls would be made of frosted glass bricks. Those plans were changed after it was discovered the walls would be too difficult to fireproof.)

Last month, in Lombardi’s first presentation to the commission, he was asked to lower the height of the building by two feet and remove the arches on the building’s side windows. The commissioners had also asked Lombardi for a more detailed presentation than the one he had previously given.

“So much of the success of this building will be in the detailing,” Commissioner Frederick Bland said. “I think there’s the potential for losing a lot of what is this thrilling, audacious building, and I would request that the detailing be carefully worked out with staff to ensure that the overall quality that we’re expecting is actually achievable.”

In March, Lombardi won support for the project from Community Board 1, despite the concern by some that a weakened economy might stall or drastically alter the project once construction starts.

“We find it intriguing, but we’d like assurances on as many fronts as we can,” Roger Byrom, chairman of CB1’s Landmarks Committee, said at the time. He added that he was “extremely nervous” that developers would discover, in mid-construction, that the building was too expensive, too time-consuming or simply impossible to construct as planned. The board subsequently received a letter from Pittsburgh Corning, the Pennsylvania-based manufacturing company of the glass bricks, stating that although the building would be the first of its kind, they had confidence in Lombardi’s design.

 

Lombardi said construction of the building would probably not begin for another two years, and would take around 14 months to complete. He estimated the cost of construction to be between $9 million and $12 million.

The developers, DG Realty Holdings, plan to put 10 rental apartments in the building, with two retail stores on the ground floor. But the city has yet to rezone northern Tribeca to allow residential construction without a special permit, so the developers are calling the Glass Atelier an office building for the time being. If proposed rezoning is not passed by the time the building is completed, the developers would apply for the special permit from the city.

 

To make the case for a variance, developers usually must show that their project would not be viable as a commercial building. Currently, the building has three commercial tenants, the furniture store Siberian Living, a modeling agency and a financial consultant.

A 'Clear' Vision
The notion of constructing an apartment building entirely of glass bricks came to Lombardi the same way one might happen upon a new recipe or home decorating tip. He was flipping though the pages of an architectural magazine when he came across an article about Pittsburgh Corning and their line of glass building products.

“I noticed that one type of glass blocks they were touting were approximately the same size and shape as traditional bricks,” Lombardi said in a telephone interview. “I thought, ‘What a wonderful building it would be if you could do the whole façade in the glass bricks.'”

Once assured that glass bricks were a viable option for construction, Lombardi said he was confident the design would meet a warm reception. His instinct seems to have been validated.

“It’s exactly what the other buildings in North Tribeca look like," said Carole DeSaram, a CB1 member and longtime Tribeca resident. "The only difference is that it’s glass.”