Marie Patino

The Role of Historic Preservation in the Rise of New York Mega-Mansions Ultra-rich buyers are carving out mega-mansions in historic NYC neighborhoods. Also: Oslo’s new government quarter aims for openness

The final form of historic preservation is a Gilded Age mansion where 10 apartments used to be: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

How the Ultra-Wealthy Are Building Bigger Mansions in the Heart of NYC Also this week: Oslo opens new government quarters on the site of tragedy, and it’s a tough time to be a Black developer.

This week: Mega-mansions in Manhattan, Minneapolis after ICE, Oslo architecture, self-driving safety, snow-day solutions. And my fave part: A delightful reader email on how she created a “15-minute city for friendship” inspired by a @sarahholder.bsky.social story www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

A screenshot of 3 3D modeled townhomes side by side. They are all rendered using a grey material, but the two on the right have a brick texture.

A detailed 3D exploded isometric diagram of a multi-story mega-mansion, resulting from the combination of two townhouses at 105 and 1017 Bank Street. The graphic highlights several features, including an excavated subcellar containing a wine cellar, gym, sauna, and media room. Above the subcellar, the kitchen and family room occupy the garden level, with the main entrance and living/dining area on the parlor floor, above. A grand spiral staircase is shown connecting all levels, replacing the two original staircases. The upper floors include a primary suite with a 2,000-plus pound bathtub and multiple secondary bedrooms. The diagram is topped by a rooftop level added during construction that features a study and a bathroom.

Come for the story and data, pls stay for the many hours spent in Blender texturing façades + building that spiral central staircase – was it very crucial, probably not

Two side-by-side neighborhood maps showing the West Village and the Upper East Side, color-coded to identify specific types of residential developments. Purple markers dot both maps and indicate single-family roll-ups, while yellow markers indicate where two or more townhomes were combined. The maps illustrate a dense concentration of these high-end combinations throughout both historic districts.

This phenomenon is concentrated in the West Village and Upper East Side of Manhattan. So are single-family rollups. In the West Village, one out of six small multifamily building has become a single-family home over the last decade.

The Rise of the Manhattan Mega-Mansion In the West Village and other historic neighborhoods, buyers are consolidating apartments and combining townhomes, a sign of New York’s allure to the ultra-rich.

We looked at where and how the ultra-rich are buying and combining two – sometimes three – adjacent townhomes to convert them into single-family housing (often featuring an elevator and a flashy central staircase.)
www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

NYC’s newest billionaire status symbol: a double-wide townhouse.

Ultra-wealthy buyers are combining 2–3 historic townhomes into mega-mansions designed to feel like suburban estates — in the middle of the Manhattan.

Here's the latest with @sooophie.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

The Rise of the Manhattan Mega-Mansion In the West Village and other historic neighborhoods, buyers are consolidating apartments and combining townhomes, a sign of New York’s allure to the ultra-rich.

Behind the preserved historical facades, the ultra-rich are buying up adjacent townhomes in the West Village and Upper East Side, combining them into a megamansion. It's part of a broader trend of small multifamily buildings being turned into single-family homes. www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

The Rise of the Manhattan Mega-Mansion In the West Village and other historic neighborhoods, buyers are consolidating apartments and combining townhomes, a sign of New York’s allure to the ultra-rich.

Ultra-rich buyers are consolidating New York townhouse apartments into giant single-family homes. Some are buying two, even three adjacent townhomes to build a franken-house.

Step inside a Manhattan mega-mansion, the latest status symbol in this second Gilded Age:

www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

Apartment Dwellers, Avoid These Winter Heating Hazards to Stay Safe Beware of space heaters, using your oven and stove as a furnace and more.

Keep these safety tips in mind while using a space heater today, NYC:

bookmarking

Attention visual journalists: I’m always open to pitches for @sciam.bsky.social’s Graphic Science column. The column tells concise stories on topics in science via graphics (dataviz, illustrated diagrams, comic-style explainers, etc). It appears in both print & online. DM me for a pitch guide.

The Post was foolish enough to unleash a bevy of the world’s most talented multi-disciplinary journalists out there for their competition to scoop up. These are some of the most hard working and skilled people I know.

Save this one and reshare it please! 📊

Inside the Plan to Demolish and Rebuild Trump’s Washington When President Donald Trump demolished the East Wing in October, it came as a public shock. But the White House likely won’t be the last historic DC building to face a wrecking ball.

One way or another the changes coming to Southwest are going to have huge consequences for the District. Read this feature by me and @mariepastora.bsky.social on the city's past, present and possible future: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

Inside the Plan to Demolish and Rebuild Trump’s Washington When President Donald Trump demolished the East Wing in October, it came as a public shock. But the White House likely won’t be the last historic DC building to face a wrecking ball.

Washington has long weighed a plan to redevelop a vast federal office enclave in SW DC.

Along comes a president willing to demolish the East Wing without warning.

Neoclassical designers sense their moment.

Welcome to DC's next neighborhood-in-waiting, FEDLANDIA: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

ICE's presence in Minnesota dwarf Twin Cities' largest police forces 3,000 agents is more than the 10 largest metro police departments combined.

If 3,000 federal agents land in Minnesota, their footprint will be bigger than the 10 largest metro police departments combined.

All the cool kids take BtB and turn into birding weirdos

With Mamdani, the Humble Bus Gets Its Due Enthusiasm for NYC’s mayor-elect may reflect a little-understood reality about the essential role of buses. Still, making them faster won’t be easy.

I wrote about how surprised I still am a candidate for NYC mayor won in large part by talking incessantly about buses, and also about how making them fast as promised will be an immense challenge. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

An illustration showing a hypothetical State Department letterhead in two different fonts.

So about that font news ... gift article:

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Arrested by Phone: A Graphic Novel No texting. No visitors. No escape. She was caught in India’s new digital nightmare.

Haven't been posting much lately but had to come share the latest piece I helped edit + produce @bloomberg.com — worth your time!

Arrested by Phone: A Graphic Novel

Illustrations by the amazing Anand RK (anandrk.art)
Written by a crack reporting team

Gift link:
www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

Just How Formulaic Are Hallmark and Lifetime Holiday Movies? We (Over)analyzed 424 of Them. (Gift Article) Do they all finish happily? We don’t want to ruin the ending for you.

The holiday movie formula (we don't want to ruin the ending for you).

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

OpenAI, Nvidia Fuel $1 Trillion AI Market With Web of Circular Deals A wave of deals and partnerships are escalating concerns that the trillion-dollar AI boom is being propped up by interconnected business transactions.

The OG one is this (gift link): www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Transit Techies #35: Aaron Gordon, Surya Mattu, Marie Patino / Elif Ensari, Wed, Nov 5, 2025, 6:30 PM | Meetup This will be **Transit Techies NYC**'s final session of the year, and we have some amazing speakers to look forward to. Talks will start at 6:30pm, and we'll mingle over li

NYC people: @suryamattu.com, @mariepastora.bsky.social and I will be talking about our NJ Transit/NYC commuter rail story on Nov 5. Hope to see some of you there! www.meetup.com/transit-tech...

Europe’s Original Climate-Resilient City Has a Lesson for Us All On Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary, it continues to be a leader in climate adaptation — showing how a city can thrive in overcoming existential challenges.

Amsterdam might never have become a city if not for climate change. But the city's secret sauce is that it turned its greatest challenges into advantages, @feargusosull.bsky.social and Charlotte Hughes-Morgan explain in this great piece.

Opinion | Why Trump’s East Wing Demolition Needed to Happen

Ross Douthat writes that by bulldozing the White House without permission Trump is cutting red tape in an Abundance-y way.

It's true, you don't want historic federal reviews for every new townhome. But you do want historic federal reviews for White House additions!

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/o...

HUD Issues Layoff Notices, Targeting Fair Housing Staff With Deep Cuts Fair housing staffers who investigate claims of housing discrimination at field offices nationwide were among the hundreds of HUD staffers who received layoff notices.

HUD laid off so many fair housing investigators on Friday that it shuttered the regional offices that oversee discrimination cases in 9 states: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The housing hustle igniting a foreclosure crisis in Baltimore The foreclosures could send neighborhoods spiraling and make Baltimore America’s next great housing crisis.

Remarkable story about a wave of foreclosures in Baltimore triggered by incomprehensible DSCR loan activity from New York investors. This @thebaltimorebanner.com story reads like the sixth season of "The Wire": www.thebanner.com/community/ho...

Chaque année, 1 500 kilomètres carrés de nature et de terres agricoles disparaissent sous les constructions en Europe. À l’aide d’images satellites et d’un modèle d’intelligence artificielle, nous révélons l’ampleur et les conséquences de cette artificialisation massive.

#GreenToGrey

AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring Wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers.

The amazing thing about the hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on AI development is it doesn't even include all the externalized costs like higher electricity prices for hundreds of millions of people.

Callback trampoline!!

Your Zodiac Sign Is 2,000 Years Out of Date (Gift Article) Over millennia, our view of the stars has shifted, because of Earth’s wobble. It may be time to rethink your sign.

I wrote about how Earth's wobble causes our view of the skies to shift over time. Here's a paywall-free gift link. With @fparis.bsky.social and @iamrumz.bsky.social