Another year, another opportunity to get in line and see some places in NY that you have never been before! This year I tried some not so popular sites to avoid the lines.  Unfortunately, this weekend a lot of things were going on in the city, from the Food & Wine Festival to the Breast Cancer Walk, and the worst of all – the mother of Subway repairs! 18 out of all 20 subway lines were in some kind of irregular schedules, be it skipping stops or replace by shuttle bus.  So with all that’s going on, I couldn’t visit as many places as I could.

On Saturday I went to MePa (MeatPacking District for you non-New Yorker) to see this site called illy Push Button House.  Basically it’s a shipping container that, at the push of a button, transform into a fully furnished 5-room apartment! You know how I love transformable stuff, so this is too awesome to be true.  I went there, it turns out to be a crossover event with the Food & Wine Festival sponsored by the Food Network – well, they are doing a talk-show kinda event in this transformable apartment!  I was annoyed by it because I couldn’t get too close to examine the space.  From the look of it, it is a 5-rooms apartment, except, you guess it right, tiny rooms!  In any case it’s a cool concept and fun to have that in the middle of the street!

Next up is a place that I wanted to visit last year but couldn’t because of the long line – Kushner Residence in the Village.  I still waited for about half an hour this time around, but it was definitely worth it because this apartment is too cool! The owner is an architect.  He converted a two unit duplex into a unique place that is fill with openness – literally, because everything is kinda “open!” Not only it opens up to the second floor, there’s hardly any walls in the apartment and there is a retractable roof!!!  The bath tub and the shower are transparent (well, there is another one on the first floor that is not as open, that one has mental panel blocking part of the “view!”)  It’s an amazing looking places fill with natural elements from woods to metal to stones.  The owner even gave a brief talk about how he convert the place.  It was an entertaining hour to say the least.

Then next on the list is the Grand Lodge of Masons.  I have almost zero knowledge about the Freemasons, so visiting this place definitely makes me learn something new.  This is their headquarter for the New York Branch.  Apparently every state has their own Masons.  This is, as their name suggested, Grand! Every space in this building is decorated with hand-painted artwork, it’s very beautiful.  The problem with the tour is that it gets repetitive because each room in the building, despite all the decorations and artwork, is essential a meeting place with the same footprint.  Maybe you will be in awe for the first 3 to 4th rooms, but by the 8th room, you will probably feel like me – want to skip ahead and leave!

On Sunday Roosevelt Island is on the schedule.  I never been to Roosevelt Island despite being a New Yorker for so so long.  I didn’t take the cable car because “someone” was scared of height, I am of course, an accommodating guy, planned the alternate subway ride instead.  Roosevelt Island feels like a completely different state than New York City! It’s quiet and with a breath-taking scenery!  The quietness makes it feel more like a suburb college campus then a place right next to midtown!  After a long walk – seriously, Roosevelt Island is long – we reached the Octagon at the North end of the island.  The Octagon is formerly known as America’s first lunatic asylum! An eery place with, well, history.  It is restored into an modern residential building!  It is a beautiful place, but the history just made the hair on my skin all stand up.

Last site for this year’s OHNY is the Smallpox hospital ruin at the Southern end of the island.  There is just something about old structure ruins that make them so mysteriously beautiful.  This place is unsafe for people to go near because it’s on the verge of collapse.  It’s in the process of restoration.  Still, walking close to it is good enough for me, the exterior of this building reminds me of ancient castles in fairy tales.  Hopefully it will become a nice park open for everyone to enjoy the space and the spectacular view of the city.

That’s it for this year’s OHNY, hopefully next year there will be even more amazing sites to see~

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Tagged: architecture · New York · OHNY · Roosevelt Island