1014 — KARO ARCHITECTS

tenfourteen - space for ideas

The Beaux-Art style townhouse at 1014 5th Avenue is considered both a real and symbolic site of German-American relations in the postwar period. Nowhere was the golden age of German-American exchange more intellectual, cultural, and political than here.

Beginning in 1923, former U.S. Ambassador James W. Gerard occupied this townhouse. He was a diplomat still in Imperial Germany in Berlin. It remained his family's private home until the death of his wife, Mary Gerard. Then it was acquired by the Federal Republic of Germany in 1961 and operated as the Goethe House and later as an institute in the worldwide network of Goethe Institutes until 2010.

After an international design competition, the German government commissioned David Chipperfield Architects, along with KARO Architects and the Paratus Group, to convert the now vacant building into a new center for transatlantic dialogue. The six-story 1906 townhouse will be restored and renovated, with sensitive interventions to the original fabric to accommodate the new social and cultural programming, focused on the expectations of the 21st century.

The target group is future and current decision-makers, millennials aged 21 to 45. Areas of work include politics, business, culture, science, media. Events, exhibitions and a multidisciplinary residency program are the core components.

The building's owners have committed to showcasing 1014 as an example of how a high-efficiency renovation can be accomplished - meeting historic preservation requirements while responding to the urgency of addressing climate change. The all-electric building will consume no fossil fuels and achieve zero-carbon operation.

Location: 1014 5th Ave, New York

Size: 22,600 sqft

Expected Completion: 2026