For the first year or two after I moved to New York, I became one of those people who smugly criticizes tourists for ”looking up.” “Looking up” to ogle buildings as you walked down the street (causing you to inevitably bump into real New Yorkers like me with places to go) was about the greatest sin you could commit (well, after pronouncing Houston Street “Hue-ston,” of course).

I’ve since tried to mellow out as I move into my tenth year in the city, and I now make it a point to look up. Hell, if you don’t look up, you could miss something absolutely extraordinary like this.

I have never seen anything like this before, and maybe one of these days, I’ll have an excuse to scout it for a film. Since finding it, I’ve learned that the owner has named it “Up-Upon-It,” in joking reference to friends with cottages in Sagaponack. Though I’ve heard rumors the place is surrounded by sand and beach chairs, others have reported that this is a myth, and that the structure is actually only a guest room connected to the fourth floor apartment. Regardless, it seems quite appropriate that such a structure is located at Kramer’s Nexus of the Universe…

A NY Times article revealed that the house is the creation of architect and owner Andrew Tesoro, whose firm was responsible for the converted church location for John’s Pizza on West 44th, among others.

Anyway, the moral of the story: stop worrying about looking like a tourist and try looking up for a change. You might come across one of these amazing rooftop houses…or you might even find yourself at the nexus of the universe…

http://www.nycgo.com/