Material world
From gold to crystal, rare elements abound in NYC properties
Dwellings at the forthcoming 61-unit 40 Bleecker (prices start at $1.87 million) feature French oak floors made from recycled wine barrels. Sourced from Burgundy’s Bertrange forest, the wood is crafted into barrels in the French village of Fontaines, then used by winery Terre Margaritelli to age organic wines in Umbria, Italy. The winery’s owners, the Margaritelli family, refinish the wood to be used for flooring. At 40 Bleecker, it sports a handsome chevron pattern. Douglas Elliman Development Marketing’s Fredrik Eklund, John Gomes and Sarah Burke is handling sales and marketing. Numidian marble — a dark yellow stone — was a popular building material in the ancient Roman Empire, sourced from what’s now Tunisia. It was so popular, in fact, that it was used in the construction of the Pantheon in Rome. But in Murray Hill, numidian marble can be found surrounding the fireplace in the double-height living room of this 23 Park Ave. home, now listed for $4.35 million. Fittingly, a marble bust of 1st-century Roman emperor Claudius stands atop the fireplace. Elsewhere in this Stanford Whitedesigned second-floor spread, there are restored stainedglass windows and bathrooms with vaulted ceilings. Johan Barbato and Molly Reilly of Stribling have this listing. A coffered ceiling is nice, but how about a coffered ceiling with inlaid gold? The dining room of this $15 million Upper West Side townhouse listing has just that — and it’s made of 24-karat gold, no less. It runs above patterned blue wallpaper, mahogany paneling and panes of stained glass, and is ornamented with scarlet-red designs. Other features at this 20-footwide spread at 24 W. 71st St., known as the Milbank Mansion, include six bedrooms, 10 fireplaces and over 8,800 square feet. George Vanderploeg and Steffen Kral of Douglas Elliman are repping this listing. For $3.98 million, you could nab this 25-foot-wide limestone townhouse in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. In this corner lot gem, a stately wooden parlor is capped by a vaulted 22-karat gold-leaf ceiling. Located at 125 Maple St., this five-bedroom property was designed at the turn of the 20th century by prolific Brooklyn architect Axel Hedman, who crafted hundreds of row houses in areas including BedfordStuyvesant, Park Slope and Clinton Hill. While the home’s crown moldings and decorative fireplaces are original, this ceiling was added in later years. Devin Kogel and Christopher Daish of the Corcoran Group represent this listing. You can sleep under the stars — or beside wallpaper that sparkles. The wall located behind the bed inside this 80 Riverside Boulevard master suite has hand-painted silver pattern and an array of Swarovski crystals. York Wallcoverings first applied a layer of wallpaper, then painted it and, last, affixed 880 crystals along the wall. This home is on the market for $25,200 monthly via Halstead’s Lizabeth Sant’Angelo. The four bathrooms located on the second floor of this 72nd-floor Time Warner Center duplex, asking a mighty $28.99 million, all feature onyx finishes. But the glitzy mineral truly takes pride of place downstairs, in the Central Park-facing living room, where a fireplace with a white onyx surround runs from floor to ceiling. What’s more, back upstairs, shagreen tile — a grainy-textured material popular among aristocrats in 18th-century France — lines the closet doors in the master suite. Ileen G. Schoenfeld and Aracely Moran of Brown Harris Stevens share the listing.