All aboard!
Brooklyn’s zany subway-themed rental readies for tenants
ROM signal problems to sick passengers, most New Yorkers have had enough of the NYC subway system after a hectic workday. But for extreme straphangers for whom no journey is too much, you can now not just ride the subway — but live in it, too. (Almost.)
There’s a new eight-unit rental building at 132A Stanhope St. in Bushwick that bears a facade decorated with an MTA-inspired motif. But this abstract take on classic train and transit map designs is not limited to the outside; inside the building, less sophisticated — if not occasionally inaccurate — subterranean allusions crop up throughout.
Its entrance, clad with a metallic material, resembles an actual subway car. Above, there’s a sign that reads “132A Stanhope St. Station.” The sign’s A is enclosed in a yellow circle to make it look like a subway line, but not the blue one straphangers actually see during their commutes, notes Gothamist, the local metro-news blog that first reported this unusual residence.
Onlookers can also see track-like rails running up a side of the facade — right over floor-to-ceiling win- dows. Gotta love a blocked view!
On another side of the building, there’s a large map of the lines that run near the building, punctuated by a bright “YOU ARE HERE” disclaimer. 132A Stanhope St. is located just two blocks from the Knickerbocker Avenue M stop.
Inside, the subway aesthetic reaches a climax in the hallways, which, at the entry, have a tiled wall that spells “STANHOPE STREET STATION.”
Head to each unit’s doorway, and you’ll see a yellow strip modeled after the platform edge that calls out the apartments’ unit numbers.
Of course, bathrooms feature subway-tile walls. Tenants of the top- and bottomfloor homes even get green and yellow metal staircases that connect their levels.
The building is not without controversy, however: Brooklyn cartographer Jake Berman says he designed the exterior map and is petitioning the developers for credit, according to DNAinfo.
Meanwhile. the aptly named Subway Realty Group — whose rep was baffled when a reporter called asking why the building looks this way — is handling leasing ( Subway
Management.com). Let’s just hope the monthly rents, whenever they are announced, are a mere $2.75.