In order to push the city\u2019s skyline into the future, Robert A.M. Stern looked to the past.<\/p>\n
The late architect\u2019s understated, pre-war style seemed to tower above his modernist peers. His preference for masonry over steel and glass made him both an outlier and a proven investment, producing two of Manhattan\u2019s most coveted, record-setting condo towers.<\/p>\n
Stern\u2019s 300-strong architectural firm, RAMSA, announced his death<\/a> last week. The Brooklyn-born architect, educator and author passed away on Thanksgiving morning at age 86 from pulmonary illness.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was a giant,\u201d Samuel White, a partner at PBDW Architects, and the great-grandson of the famed Gilded Age architect Stanford White, told The Post.<\/p>\n Robert A.M. Stern founded the legendary architectural firm RAMSA in 1977. Robert A.M. Stern Architects<\/p>\n Billionaires\u2019 Row\u2019s 220 Central Park South was considered Stern\u2019s magnum opus. Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP<\/p>\n Stern founded his eponymous firm in the 1970s. His half-century career, which began with <\/strong>private homes and institutional commissions, reached a late zenith in the 2000s, when he affixed his name and signature style to towers like 15 Central Park West and 220 Central Park South.<\/p>\n Stern\u2019s record-setting 15 Central Park West finished fully sold out in 2008. Stern called the project his \u201cbreakthrough,\u201d the New York Times<\/a> reported. The limestone development was then the most expensive condo in the city \u2014 and it lured A-listers, such as Denzel Washington and Sting. Stern was nearly 70 at the time.<\/p>\n \u201c15 Central Park West <\/strong>and its offspring definitely changed the game for a certain kind of apartment building in Manhattan,\u201d White said. \u201cHe not only changed the game, but then proceeded to dominate it.\u201d<\/p>\n Nearby 220 Central Park on Billionaires\u2019 Row, completed in 2019, was considered Stern\u2019s magnum opus. The ultra-exclusive limestone palace still claims the country\u2019s priciest-ever home sale<\/a>, set by hedge funder Ken Griffin\u2019s $238 million penthouse purchase in February 2019.<\/p>\n Stern called 15 Central Park South his \u201cbreakthrough.\u201d Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP<\/p>\n The record-setting tower\u2019s lobby bares Stern\u2019s timeless style. Robert A.M. Stern Architects, LLP<\/p>\n Manhattan, particularly the Upper East Side, is decorated with more than 20 of Stern\u2019s condo buildings.<\/strong><\/p>\n Stern was praised by his peers for his classical aesthetic and historical sensitivity. His designs stand in stark contrast to the flashy, glassy towers that dot the rest of Manhattan\u2019s luxury landscape. <\/p>\n \u201cStern has become a brand name for a certain kind of solid, very trustworthy traditional design that isn\u2019t trying to reinvent the world,\u201d architecture critic Paul Goldberger told The Post<\/a> in 2019. \u201cWhat Stern is trying to do is give people the best of the new that looks like the old. I\u2019d compare Stern with Ralph Lauren.\u201d<\/p>\n Stern, pictured in 1986. Getty Images<\/p>\n One of Stern\u2019s signature limestone facades at 30 Park Place in Tribeca. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n The success of his buildings proved to fellow architects \u2014 and eventual emulators \u2014 that masonry and craftsmanship still have a place along modern skylines. <\/p>\n