The other day, I was scouting a midtown office space with some pretty great views. As I was taking pictures, I noticed something a few blocks north…

What the hell was this crazy apartment??

Covered on all sides by curving windows, the top-most floor hangs precariously out on two beams…

…with a crazy four-story stairwell zig-zagging down to a terrace below. Seriously, can you imagine what it must be like to go up and down these stairs at about 55 stories up?

I looked it up as soon as I got home and learned that this was originally designed as the four-story, 16,000 square foot penthouse for eccentric philanthropist Stewart Mott, a General Motors heir, located at 117 East 57th Street.

From Mott’s 2008 NY Times obituary: “He once lived on a Chinese junk (a type of ship) as a self-described beatnik and kept notes to himself on Turkish cigarette boxes, accumulating thousands. He held folk music festivals to promote peace and love.” Mott, who had a tremendous interest in gardening and once proclaimed he lay awake at night wondering how to grow a better radish, built the space – and never moved in. The property was later purchased by David Copperfield.

By chance, I happened to be in another building a few days later offering a different angle…

The way it’s perched on top of the rest of the building, it almost feels like the top floor could take off like a UFO:

And I have to admit, with all those curved windows, I started wondering if the inside bore any resemblance to the Jetsons’ apartment.

Another close-up of the multi-level terrace:

Finally, here’s a bird’s eye view to give you a sense of how much terrace space there is. That almost looks like a helicopter landing pad on the southern side, but I can’t find any mention of a helipad at the property.

Too bad – where is George Jetson going to land his flying car?

-SCOUT

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