Boring rooftop? Put a house on it
March 3, 2015 6:17 AM   Subscribe

If your apartment building is looking a little plain, just build a house on the roof. NYC isn’t the only place to find homes on rooftops, though some aren’t for the faint of heart.
posted by _Mona_ (27 comments total) 16 users marked this as a favorite
 
Great post. I love the art installation at UCSD.

That's not a mansard roof.
/pedantry

posted by Rock Steady at 6:21 AM on March 3, 2015


Great idea, why not? Plus a lawn, if the roof can support it when it's soaked with rainwater (likely not designed for that). I would totally live in one of those, and rent the rest of the building out while twirling my moustache.
posted by sidereal at 6:32 AM on March 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


But this is nothing new.
posted by kinnakeet at 6:47 AM on March 3, 2015


Doesn't beat having two (fake) churches on the roof.
posted by octothorpe at 6:51 AM on March 3, 2015


But this is nothing new.

Not sure if it would be considered a "house" but my friend Benedict's home at 86th and Riverside was once William Randolph Hearst's quintuplex built atop a 12 story building in the early 1900s.
posted by JaredSeth at 6:58 AM on March 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


But this is nothing new. [Syracuse example]

I have driven by that building a hundred times and never noticed that, though it looks like part of the reason is that a big billboard screens it from the highway. Though I am disappointed to read that it only contains elevator machinery for the factory and is not an actual habitable house up there.
posted by aught at 7:04 AM on March 3, 2015


Oh, and I meant to add, one of these structures must have been the inspiration for the Twenty-First Nome.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:39 AM on March 3, 2015


Ha! Kinnakeet beat me to it. Journalists were only recently allowed access to the little house.
posted by tchemgrrl at 7:53 AM on March 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


Man, I would move into one of those LoftCubes in a heartbeat if I could find a place to put it.
posted by holborne at 7:55 AM on March 3, 2015


I'm curious one one goes about getting permission and regulatory approval to build a structure on top of another structure.
posted by Fleebnork at 8:00 AM on March 3, 2015


I seen most of these before, but what I want most are INTERIORS and WALKTHROUGHS. Show me the experience of going up to the house, walking through the 'yard' and into the front door. What's it like to live there?
posted by leotrotsky at 8:06 AM on March 3, 2015 [9 favorites]


Fleebnork: "I'm curious one one goes about getting permission and regulatory approval to build a structure on top of another structure."

I suspect in most cases they are just additions built by the owner of the "host" building and would be treated like any other rooftop additions. It could get interesting if you were building your own house on top of someone else's building... I doubt that would be allowed in most jurisdictions in the US.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:19 AM on March 3, 2015


These are great, but how would you address mail? Also, seconding leotrotsky in wanting walkthroughs.
posted by MuChao at 8:38 AM on March 3, 2015


These are great, but how would you address mail?

Just the same as you would to a penthouse apartment, I imagine.

Doesn't beat having two (fake) churches on the roof.


"Churches"? Those don't look like any church architecture I can think of.
posted by yoink at 8:50 AM on March 3, 2015


I want to know if they use the house at UCSD or if it's all cordoned off. It looks perfect for a seminar, and would concentrate the mind wonderfully!
posted by tavella at 9:01 AM on March 3, 2015


The UC San Diego house needs a pair of legs in striped stockings and ruby slippers protruding from underneath it to be complete...
posted by jim in austin at 9:23 AM on March 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


Sarah Agudo and Marcin Wichary's ode to the Phelan building in SF has a section on the weird house on top, including photos of the abandoned interior and some stories. (Section V, search for "penthouse"). It used to be lovely but is now dilapidated. I suspect there's thousands of buildings like this, but few with a writeup and photos as good as this one.
posted by Nelson at 9:23 AM on March 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


Not sure if it would be considered a "house" but my friend Benedict's home at 86th and Riverside was once William Randolph Hearst's quintuplex built atop a 12 story building in the early 1900s.

Give me a budget to get furniture that doesn't suck, and I'd give an internal organ to live there.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:24 AM on March 3, 2015


It looks perfect for a seminar, and would concentrate the mind wonderfully!

It would certainly encourage the unwitting visiting speaker to finish on time! And imagine the torture of the regulars asking extended questions ...
posted by Dashy at 9:32 AM on March 3, 2015


Tavella, the UCSD house is open as a museum a few days a week, you can go inside and there is furniture and photos on the walls. It is one very small room, only two chairs and a couch, and they only let 5 people inside at a time. It is all tilted at a 20degree angle off flat, though, so it is not easy to stand or sit in (the furniture is screwed to the floor, and knickknacks are glued to tabletops), and it is disorienting to look out the windows and see other buildings and people walking at odd angles. I couldn't stay inside very long without getting nauseated.
posted by holyrood at 9:39 AM on March 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


This hits all the right buttons for me. Partly because it introduces me to something that I didn't know about before, but it also seems a pretty ingenious use of space and appeals to the recluse in me that likes to find private spaces in bustling areas.
posted by SpacemanStix at 10:34 AM on March 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


The building at 945 Summit Avenue in the Bronx was once the headquarters of H.W. Wilson, a publishing company, known for its Readers Guide to Periodical Literature. The lighthouse was part of the company logo, symbolizing the mission of H.W. Wilson: “To give guidance to those seeking their way through the maze of books and periodicals, without which they would be lost.”

I occasionally wonder if those little green books are still published. I remember using them all the time for reports when I was in jr. high and high school. I kind of figured the Internet did them in.
posted by TedW at 10:41 AM on March 3, 2015


The one where they use perspective to make it appear there is a modern addition on top of an older building is reminiscent of this local landmark. The addition was done in the 1970s by a then unknown I M Pei and used to feature a giant cross on top, placed there by the local politician who owned the building and taken down about the time he went to jail on some sort of corruption charge.
posted by TedW at 10:50 AM on March 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


My uncle worked at H.W. Wilson for a really long time! I remember that building well, but am only realizing just now that the lighthouse on the roof was a little idiosyncratic.
posted by invitapriore at 11:27 AM on March 3, 2015


Back in the 80's I worked in a large building on lower 6th ave. Back then it was not the shopping mecca it is now, lots of the storefronts were empty. We used go on the roof to smoke and found that there was a pretty good size apartment on the roof. Not exactly a house, but a nice size place for Manhattan. There were almost always people going in and out so we never got too close, but it seemed like a great place to live.
posted by freakazoid at 12:19 PM on March 3, 2015


I occasionally wonder if those little green books are still published. I remember using them all the time for reports when I was in jr. high and high school. I kind of figured the Internet did them in.

Not yet! Admittedly, the Reader's Guide exists mainly in electronic form now, and severely diminished at that, but I used the electronic database a couple of months ago. It was extremely handy (you try tracking down something in a magazine from 1935 without it).

It is kind of sad that HW Wilson as a company doesn't exist anymore (bought by EBSCO a few years back) and it's also kind of a kick to see what I consider a 'library' company mentioned in an article about weird, unrelated things.
posted by librarylis at 5:25 PM on March 3, 2015


When I spend the 2 bucks on a powerball ticket, I like to hop on Zillow to see what kind of ridiculous place I'd get. These "sky-homes" in Chicago are pretty neat. Townhomes on top of the 12th floor of a building in River North. Not the neighborhood I'd choose, but some really fantastic views from gorgeous terraces.
posted by onehalfjunco at 5:54 PM on March 3, 2015


« Older I Want To Live In A House   |   The humble quest to read all things lesbian Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments