Unhistoric Townhouse System Architects

A modest townhouse with a celebrity address in Tribeca, New York, uses its facade as a strategy to disrupt heritage. The twisted and undulating wall of corbelled bricks structures the interior program and connects the residence to the street, while formally adding a layer to Tribeca West’s urban story. Ironically named Unhistoric Townhouse, System Architects’ recently completed project will no doubt make rather than distance itself from history.

Tribeca West is one of Lower Manhattan’s most vibrant and popular historic neighbourhoods. Unhistoric Townhouse is a residential addition to and renovation of a building that has been transformed several times throughout its history. It began as a single-storey blacksmith’s shop in the nineteenth century, which in the twentieth century became an auto repair shop, which was demolished in 1995 But only three of the five storeys of the office were built and when the owner found it was unprofitable, and the area was rezoned, it was converted, like much of Tribeca, into a private townhouse.