With its powerful brick-and-terra-cotta exteriors, Romanesque Revival detailing,  and soaring arched windows, 140  Franklin Street is one of Tribeca’s  outstanding historical buildings.

 

The  client/developer Aldo Andreoli was an  architect with the highest standards.

 

The  goal: to transform the beauty and power  of its exterior into a landmark residence  conceived with imagination, the very  finest materials, and close attention to the  smallest details.

 

Following a gut renovation of its 70,000  square feet, fourteen unique luxury  loft/condominiums bathed in light were  created in a modern idiom, featuring  boldly geometric interiors, with  customized kitchens, baths and closets by  Italy’s leading manufacturers.

 

Three duplex penthouses — palatial homes  in the sky — were constructed on the top  floor and roof within the castle-wall-like  privacy of the building’s original parapet  and surrounded by lushly planted terrace  gardens.

 

 

Entirely new building systems provided high-voltage power for electronics and  fixtures, and an elevator with full- spectrum lights that change color at  every floor  transports  residents  to  the Grand lobby with artist Sol Lewitt’s  wraparound mural as its centerpieces.

 

From every perspective, 140 Franklin  presents a rich and memorable fusion of  Italian-inspired  design—past,  present,    and future—both stark and sensual, bold  and comfortable; a plan for living in the  21st century.

 

So successful was this metamorphosis of  Tribeca’s outstanding architectural past  into an icon of equally outstanding  contemporary vision that it inspired what  would soon become, and remain, a  blueprint for Manhattan’s most desirable  conversions.

 

 

 

 

 

Senior designer: Giusi Mastro, Sanba Inc.