Open House New York Puts 5 Unique NYC Homes On View

Open House New York added more than 100 new sites for its 2015 weekend, and we are thrilled to announce that several of those sites were hand-picked by Curbed editors. The curated collection includes five private residences that showcase a range of classic New York City homes—there's a historic brownstone mansion and a stately prewar co-op—and current design trends—a passive house building and a Dutch-inspired penthouse will also open their doors. All of the homes require advanced reservations, so hop to it if you want to peek these spaces, and read on for a preview of what you can expect.

Dating to 1887, the stately mansion at 247 Hancock Street in Bed-Stuy was designed and built by Brooklyn architect Montrose Morris for water meter magnate and Irish immigrant John C. Kelley. It measures nearly 8,000 square feet and holds 10 bedrooms, a 100-year-old mahogany bar, and a library. The interior is decked out with 19th century antiques, collected by owner Claudia Moran (who has lived in the home for more than 30 years). The standalone house sits on a landscaped lot featuring a rose garden and koi pond.

This NoMad penthouse at Huys encapsulates the Dutch design moment that is taking over New York—after all, the developer, designer, and landscape architect involved all hail from the Netherlands (the name, by the way, is pronounced "house" and derives from Stadt Huys, the Old Dutch for City Hall). The Kroonenberg Groep hired renowned designer Piet Boon to convert a 1917 office building into 58 apartments, and the interior of the penthouse features a clean, minimalist aesthetic. Boon selected all of the penthouse's furnishings and decor, as well. Visitors will also be able to enjoy the rooftop terrace, created by Piet Oudolf, who also designed the High Line gardens.

Passive House construction is booming in New York, and R-951 is the first ever building in the city to achieve both Passive House certification and net zero capabilities. In other words: this place is super energy-efficient. It's powered entirely by solar, and the extremely well-insulated shell allows for a temperate, comfortable interior. It's equipped with a Zehnder energy recovery ventilation system and operable triple glazed windows. The facade is inspired "by the rich textural qualities of exterior shutters in dense, urban areas of Asia," and features a folding screen that allows residents to control the amount of sunlight and shade inside. There's also a rainwater-harvesting system that's used to irrigate the backyard.

If interior designer Kittie Lonsdale's prewar co-op looks familiar, that may be because it starred as the Green Goblin's lair in Spider-Man. But there's a lot more to the home than pop culture connections. Perched atop Windsor Tower, built in 1928 by Fred F. French, the home features double-height wall of casement windows (original to the building) and a bronze chandelier that dates to 1870. Many of the furnishings are antiques that Lonsdale collected on travels, including a carved, inlaid Art Nouveau bed from Verona, Italy.

At 12 East 13th Street, CetraRuddy turned a 1930s parking garage into eight sprawling apartments, two of which will open their doors. A variety of sustainable design choices were made in the interiors—the American walnut paneling in the kitchens was sourced within 500 miles from the city—and many details, like the pendant lights in the bathroom, are mean to evoke the building's industrial past. A major nod to the building's past life is the robot parking that retrieves an owner's car in 60 seconds.
· 20 Must-See Open House New York 2015 Sites [Curbed]
· Open House New York 2015 [official]
· Hancock Street Residence [OHNY]
· Huys Penthouse [OHNY]
· R-951 [OHNY]
· Tudor City Penthouse [OHNY]
· 12 East 13th Street [OHNY]