8. There is a Venetian palazzo built atop a former horse stable
At 360 West 11th Street in the West Village there is a residential building that was constructed in the style of a Venetian palazzo. Called Palazzo Chupi, the building was designed by artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel and constructed atop a former horse stable that was converted into a stable. The name comes from a Spanish lollipop brand called Chupa Chups, and the palazzo was painted a bright pink. The building dates back to around 1915 and also served as a perfume studio.
The building stands at 12 stories, and construction was very fast to beat potential height limitations. The building includes a large terrace with Italian-inspired arches, and parts of the building resemble Padua’s Scrovegni Chapel. Madonna, Johnny Depp, and Richard Gere all lived in the building, the first four floors of which are Schnabel’s. The palazzo has been met with mixed critical reviews; while some have considered the building an authentic representation of Italian architecture, others including Andrew Berman of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation called it “woefully out of context and a monument to this guy’s ego.”