Keller Hotel & 144 Barrow Become The Keller Condo

By Brian J Pape, AIA, LEED-AP

THE LANDMARKED KELLER HOTEL at the corner of West Street and Barrow Street, looking east from the Hudson River Park, has been restored as part of a development of residential condominiums that includes the neighboring addition at 144 Barrow Street, the white building in the center of this photo. All buildings have maintained the same height as older buildings, like the Bailey-Holt House at the left of the photo, soon to be replaced by a 16-story tower. Photo credit: Brian J. Pape, AIA.

With the news of the eminent 16-story tower replacing the Bailey-Holt House (BHH) at 180 Christopher Street, the other construction activity on this block stands in stark contrast.

Before Housing Works thought about merging with BHH, the estate of William Gottlieb formed the development team with Jared Epstein, principal at Aurora Capital Associates. In April 2017, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) approved plans from NYC firm Morris Adjmi Architects to restore the facade and cornice, add a new penthouse and, to the delight of preservationists, keep the iconic “Hotel” sign. 

In May 2020, BKSK Architects filed permits for a boutique residence called the Keller. It is a combination of a 10-unit condominium in the old historic hotel, with completely new interior construction and retail at the base and 14 condos in the 144 Barrow addition. It includes indoor and outdoor spaces such as a residents’ lounge, fitness center, mail room, children’s playroom, laundry room, bike room, and landmarked status. A landscaped courtyard terrace with a barbecue and kitchenette is made for alfresco dining. There’s also a 24-hour doorman lobby with a custom stone and wood decor and reception desk. 

The property’s crown jewel is the penthouse (one of two in the building), a $17.5 million four-bedroom, four-bathroom home, spanning 4,287 square feet, with a 2,073 square feet outdoor space. The penthouse, like each residence in the building, features European white-oak flooring, quarter-cut walnut-clad entry doors, kitchens with custom walnut cabinetry, honed white Macaubas stone slab countertops and backsplashes, high-efficiency central heating and cooling, and vented washers and dryers. Both penthouses are in contract, months before they will be ready for occupancy. The exteriors are about 80 percent completed and the interiors are about 40 percent finished.

The Keller Hotel’s rich history and design by Julius Munckwitz, an architect best known for his design of the Central Park Boathouse and Riverside Park, were key factors in its designation as a New York City Landmark.  Vacant since 1998, the LPC took its owners to task in 2014 for failing to maintain the building. The Keller Hotel is one of only three remaining intact former sailors’ hotels on the Greenwich Village waterfront. 

In 1875, a 48-year-old Irish-born coal merchant named William Farrell operated a coal yard on four lots along Barrow Street, on landfill along the Hudson River shore. In 1890, Farrell bought all four lots, along with one at 385 West Street, next to the corner, its official address of 384 West Street. In 1898, he built the Keller for $68,000 on the two West Street lots, hiring architect Julius F. Munckwitz, who emigrated from Germany in 1849, when he was 20 years old, then ran his own architectural firm in New York. Farrell continued to use the other three lots behind the hotel for his coal business. Today, those lots house a new addition to the hotel building. 

The six-story Renaissance Revival-style hotel was initially named the Knickerbocker Hotel, with its entrance and lobby at 150 Barrow Street. From 1911 on, it was called New Keller, the Keller Abingdon, then the Keller Hotel. Keller became a single-room occupancy hotel by 1976, where people of little means could rent small, flimsy-walled rooms by the month. Still later, the Keller became a welfare hotel, where the city housed people on public assistance until it could find them permanent housing.

Although there is still much ground floor exterior finishes to be done, the quality of the upper floor facades, and the level of interior finishes bodes well for decades of continuing presence in our community.