The 1969 "Bubble Brownstone"

This spot was originally the site of a typical New York "brownstone" built in the 1860's. But by 1969, it was torn down and replaced with an ultra-modern townhouse that epitomized the 60s. Designed by architect Maurice Medcalfe of the architectural firm Hills & Medcalfe at No. 36 East 57th Street, it captured the Space Age in mortar and glass. Completed the same year that the astronauts walked on the moon, its minimal design relied on a stark flat surface broken by regimented rows of bulging oval glass windows. It was Barbarella Meets the Upper East Side.