New York, New York, USA

Located on the corner of Franklin Street and Broadway, Shigeru Ban’s Cast Iron House is a 13-unit luxury condominium and commercial space renovation project of an existing historic landmark building, originally designed by W. Wheeler Smith in 1882 as a commercial office building, which has been repurposed for Krauss Bridgestone Capital Assets.

The Cast Iron House project has recently been awarded a 2022 American Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

The project is composed of nine floors above grade and two floors below grade.

The original 361 Broadway building, designed by W. Wheeler Smith and completed in 1882, has been named a New York City landmark for its exquisite cast-iron facade.

The existing façade has been preserved, while the building’s interior has been reimagined to include 11 double-height units and a two-story penthouse addition.

The insertion of the new, modern living spaces inside the historic façade is likened to a ship in a bottle.

The new penthouse addition both integrates with and differentiates itself from the existing building.

It employs a cantilevered Vierendeel truss with rectangular bays, referencing the proportion of the existing cast iron window bays below.

The truss presents itself as a single-story structure when seen from the street, and appears to float above the cast iron structure.

The cantilevered ninth floor enables full-height sliding doors on the eighth floor to open the north façade entirely to the terrace.

Amenity spaces have been provided in the basement, which include an exercise gym, dance studio, game rooms, an exterior courtyard, and a spa with sauna and steam room.

Project: Cast Iron House
Architects: Shigeru Ban Architects
Lead Architect: Shigeru Ban
Original Architect: W. Wheeler Smith (1882)
Contractor: Certified of New York Inc.
Client: Krauss Bridgestone Capital Assets
Photographers: Michael Moran