42nd Street
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Welcome to the first newsletter of the new year. This one is short as we ease back into things, but it's still worth a read. Thanks to everyone who’s been a reader this past year, and a special thanks to those who've sent in links.
This week we start with some NYC-related developments before getting into the usual interior design and art-related links. There are also a few wildcards thrown in for good measure. Out with the old and in with the new.
Here are 192 ways the world got better in 2021
Alan Watts on why we resist change
39 buildings on a massive Chinese artificial island have been ordered to be demolished
How New York City’s skyline will change in 2022
Snøhetta completes two buildings on New York’s Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island
A call for affordable visions for new 5 World Trade Center building
SoHo’s Elizabeth Street Garden is being replaced with housing
NYC says goodbye to East River Park
The East Side Coastal Resiliency Project breaks ground, but opponents aren’t backing down
See NYC’s sweeping master plan promising climate resilience for Lower Manhattan
A massive manmade beach and waterfront park is coming to Williamsburg, Brooklyn
NYC’s first net-zero community moves forward in Far Rockaway, Queens
NYC gallerist is planning to turn a group of cottages on Lake Montauk into an artist’s retreat
Recently unveiled Hôtel des Académies et des Arts is an ode to the artistry and craftsmanship
Paris’s Hôtel Madame Rêve opens after a nearly decade-long renovation
An old farm in the Dolomites is transformed into a modern wellness hotel
A new London hotel is inspired by the California desert
Sausalito’s quirky and colorful floating homes
An outdoor wooden classroom in Spain
A free-form, cave-like house built into the Earth
A net-zero home built from hemp
A contemporary terracotta house in the Texas desert
A minimal apartment in Portugal
A family home in Stockholm
Estate-condition Brooklyn brownstone asks $1.45M
A designer’s brownstone apartment in Brooklyn
A serene SoHo loft owned by a former Navy SEAL
Inside the apartments of New York City literary legends
Salvador Dali's creative secret is backed by science
Why you should stop reading the news
It’s time you rediscovered the lost art of the phone call
Demand for vintage items like typewriters, records, and film is surging
NASA's most famous vintage images are up for auction
The most expensive artworks sold in 2021
Thieves steal gallery owner’s multimillion-dollar NFT collection
Art dealer’s despondent viral tweet about the theft of his NFTs… is now an NFT
What exactly are "Bored Ape"?
Sick of NFTs? Insiders insist they're just getting started.
NFT marketplace OpenSea is now valued at $13.3B
A handbook on creating, selling, and buying NFTs
Steve ESPO Powers gets into the NFT game
Bruce Davidson’s NYC subway photos from the 80s (seen above)
Stock photos of AI-generated humans are available for licensing for the first time
Famous masterpieces remastered using countless emojis
Explore Rembrandt’s ‘The Night Watch’ in an interactive 717-gigapixel photo
British man sentenced for attempting to break into building to paint over Banksy artwork
An unauthorized Banksy-themed nightclub pops up in Mexico
A new Jean-Michel Basquiat biopic is on the way
I know I was a little all over the place this week. That's all. Thanks for reading. I appreciate each and every one of you.
Thomas