3eleven lobby
Lassolike LEDs ring the upper windows of the lobby, where round pitted-concrete columns wrapped in acoustic felt flank Gordon Guillaumier’s Swale armchair.

June 25, 2024

Words: Georgina McWhirter

Photography: Adam Kane Macchia

How 3Eleven Honors Manhattan’s Little-Known History

What better position is there to be in as a Manhattan renter than lazing about in a pool, watching boats cruise the Hudson River? For those empty nesters and young professionals who have nabbed an apartment at 3Eleven, a new 930-unit building named after its address in the “foothills” of Hudson Yards near Chelsea, it’s a summertime reality. The 58-story structure by FXCollaborative Architects is industrial in affect, honoring the nearby High Line, with enormous pitted-concrete structural columns and LED ropes lassoed around the lobby. The latter is a reference to a little-known part of West Side history: From the 1850’s to 1941, urban cowboys on horseback would ride in front of freight trains traveling down 10th Avenue—at the time known as Death Avenue—waving red flags by day and lanterns at night to warn pedestrians of oncoming locomotives. Historic photographs of this moment in time, which captured that peculiar interweaving of the industrial and pioneering ages, now grace 3Eleven’s common areas. 

green sky floor lounge with green island and artwork
At 3Eleven, a 58-story, 930-unit residential rental building, the 42nd-floor sky lounge features an island clad in painted MDF half-rounds backed by cabinetry of smoked walnut veneer and a mosaic reinterpretation of With Autumn Closing In, an oil on paper by New York painter Kristin Texeira.
party room chef kitchen with green backsplash and green counters
The backsplash and countertop in the party room’s chef’s kitchen are patinated copper, a nod to the Statue of Liberty.

Speaking of common areas, some 60,000 of the property’s 950,000 square feet are devoted to indoor and outdoor amenity spaces, “the provision of which is a huge differentiator for developers that became even more important over the pandemic years,” FXCollaborative senior partner Guy Geier notes. It was crucial that such spaces be multi-use, able to be activated during the day (for WFH tenants) and night (for mixology and cooking classes, pet-adoption events—the building offers doggie daycare). 

“We had an attitude of using materials honestly in a straightforward way, without a lot of embellishment,” Geier continues. Take the chef’s kitchen in the party room, where the patinated-copper countertop and backsplash are a reference to the same aged metal forming the Statue of Liberty. Elsewhere are touches, many by local artists, that wouldn’t look out of place in the neighborhood’s many galleries. Gradient-hued steel frames in the mailroom channel Donald Judd work, sculptures in the lobby and co-working library provide small riots of color, and a black-and-white stairwell mural yields graphic punch. “The architecture,” Geier says, “is a clean-lined container for the furniture and art to shine within, enabling the shapes, colors, textures, and craftsmanship of both to elevate each other.” Yeehaw!

Step Back In Time at 3Eleven, a Residential Complex in Manhattan

large pool with daybeds overlooking the Hudson River
Outfitted with Rodolfo Dordoni Bitta daybeds, the terrazzo-paved pool deck, on the sixth floor, overlooks the Hudson River.
lobby with lassolike LEDs and concrete columns
Lassolike LEDs ring the upper windows of the lobby, where round pitted-concrete columns wrapped in acoustic felt flank Gordon Guillaumier’s Swale armchair.
rainbow colored mailroom with bright wall designs referencing vinyls
In the mailroom, wallpaper referencing vinyl records surrounds custom mailboxes of powder-coated steel.
lobby stairwell with a patterned mural
Brooklyn artist Dan Covert’s mural animates the lobby stairwell.
painted aluminum sculpture in the lobby
A painted-aluminum sculpture by Vicki Sher, another Brooklyn artist, stands beside the lobby’s Serpentine sofa.
coworking library with blackened-steel fireplace
Chiaozza’s Meander Sculpture No. 2 enlivens the co-working library, where Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs back up to a blackened-steel fireplace.
fitness center with acrylic painting and machines
An acrylic on glass by painter Linda Colleta beckons residents to the fitness center.
sky lounge with purple walls and crushed velvet banquette
Crushed polyester velvet upholsters the custom banquette in the sky lounge’s hidden speakeasy.
pool-locker corridor with bendable LED strips on ceiling and aerial images of water
In the pool-locker corridor, bendable LED strips abstracting the Hudson’s rippling water join aerial images by New York photographer Brooke Holm.

FROM FRONT SICIS: WALL TILE (LOUNGE). 

CAESARSTONE: COUNTERTOP. 

SHINNOKI: PANELING. 

ARDEX AMERICAS: FLOORING. 

VITRA: CHAIRS. 

RESTORATION HARDWARE: TABLE. 

LCDA: PANELING (LOBBY). 

DFB: COLUMN FELT. 

SHIMMERSCREEN: COLUMN BEADS. 

LUKE LAMP CO.: LED ROPES. 

JAMIE STERN DESIGN: SOFA. 

CARNEGIE FABRICS: SOFA FABRIC. 

ARTERIORS: COFFEE TABLES. 

LA CIVIDINA: ARMCHAIR. 

THE HUDSON COMPANY: WOOD FLOORING. 

HOVIA: WALLPAPER (MAILROOM). 

CONCRETE COLLABORATIVE: PAVERS (POOL TERRACE). 

KETTAL: DAYBEDS, ARMCHAIRS. 

RODA: LOUNGE CHAIRS. 

BENCHMARK CONTRACT FURNITURE: SECTIONALS. 

BLU DOT: SIDE TABLES (POOL TERRACE), STOOLS (KITCHEN). 

BENDHEIM: BALUSTRADE GLASS (STAIR). 

DE CASTELLI: COPPER PANELING (KITCHEN). 

MATERIALS INC.: ISLAND FACE. SCHOTTEN & HANSEN: FLOORING. 

ALIAS: TABLES (LIBRARY). 

CARL HANSEN & SØN: CHAIRS. DIMPLEX: FIREPLACE. 

STONE SOURCE: FIREPLACE STONE. 

THE RUG COMPANY: RUG. 

CARNEGIE FABRICS: WALLCOVERING (LIBRARY, HALL). 

TIVOLI: LED STRIPS (HALL). 

CALICO: WALLPAPER (SPEAKEASY). 

CONCERTEX: SECTIONAL FABRIC. 

WILLA ARLO INTERIORS: COCKTAIL TABLE. 

CAPRI COLLECTIONS: FLOORING (GYM). 

THROUGHOUT ARMSTRONG: CEILING TILES. 

NASCO STONE & TILE: FLOOR TILE. 

NYDREE FLOORING: WOOD FLOORING. 

SWA/BALSLEY: LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT. 

S+S LIGHTING DESIGN: LIGHTING DESIGN. 

UPRISE ART: ART CONSULTANT. 

WSP USA: STRUCTURAL ENGINEER. 

COSENTINI ASSOCIATES: MEP. 

LANGAN: CIVIL ENGINEER. 

DELFORM STUDIOS: METALWORK. 

DOUGLASTON DEVELOPMENT: DEVELOPER. 

LEVINE BUILDERS: GENERAL CONTRACTOR. 

read more