Morris Adjmi is a master of Meatpacking District architecture, having designed a number of nouveau-faux historic buildings in the district. He is now finishing up his latest project for CB Developers, the appropriately named High Line Building. It is a 10-story glass office slab perched atop a five-floor brick warehouse from the Art Deco era that straddles the elevated park. It rivals Chelsea Market and the Standard Hotel for dominance of the High Line skyline while secretly combining the best of both: cubicles and sex.
Ex-Observer staffer Dana Rubinstein got a tour of the nearly completed High Line Building for The Journal, where she discovered “a staid, elegant building, one whose restraint is underscored by the raucous architecture surrounding it.” Raucous, indeed–here was the detail that particularly caught The Observer‘s pink eye:
On Friday morning, the office tower offered dazzling views of Manhattan and masses of ice swirling along the Hudson River. It also offers views of another sort.
To the south, construction workers routinely witness the now-notorious couplings of the curtain-challenged guests at the Standard. To the north, fashion models can frequently be spotted traipsing into Milk Studios.
Who needs the Plaza District and its Park views with a show like this? Further proof that, as Ms. Rubinstein once wrote, downtown is where it’s at these days.
