A Manhattan property once owned by Andy Warhol where Jean-Michel Basquiat lived, worked and died has been taken over by actress Angelina Jolie.
The Hollywood starlet and humanitarian will rent 57 Great Jones Street for her latest creative venture, Atelier Jolie, under long-term commercial use for eight years.
The property was previously on the market with Meridian Capital Group for $60,000 per month for a minimum of 10 years – but it remains unclear whether that is how much Jolie will pay.
Atelier is an upcoming fashion label being driven by Jolie and is described as ‘a place for creative people to collaborate,’ specifically for under-represented tailors, according to its website.
‘I am building a place for creative people to collaborate with a skilled and diverse family of expert tailors, pattern makers and artisans from around the world,’ Jolie wrote on the brand’s site.
The Manhattan property once owned by Andy Warhol where Jean-Michel Basquiat lived, worked and died has been taken over by actress Angelina Jolie – seen outside the property with her daughter Zahara earlier this year
The two-story building on Great Jones Street in NoHo was where Basquiat once worked previously served as a hangout for the Five Points Gang
‘A place to have fun. To create your own designs with freedom. To discover yourself.
‘We will use only leftover, quality vintage material and deadstock. You will be able to repair or upcycle pieces from your closet you wish to revive, perfecting fit, breathing new life into what could have been thrown away, and creating quality heirloom garments with personal meaning.’
The deal for the property was confirmed by John Roesch and Garrett Kelly, both directors at the real estate agency Meridian Capital Group, according to Art News.
The interior space features 6,600 square feet across three floors.
The exterior of the building – which is adorned in street art – will remain unchanged to pay homage to Basquiat, who started his career as one-half of the graffiti art duo SAMO.
‘[Jolie] wanted to preserve the older art on [the building] and keep that Basquiat feel to the space,’ said Roesch.
‘She loved the facade of the building and it being tagged up with the street art as a memorial for Basquiat,’ Kelly added.
The Hollywood starlet and humanitarian will rent 57 Great Jones Street for her latest creative venture, Atelier Jolie, under long-term commercial use for eight years – she intends to keep the exterior adorned by street art in homage to Basquiat
Basquiat occupied the second floor of 57 Great Jones Street from 1983 until his death five years later in 1988, a year after his mentor and the owner of the property Warhol died in 1987
The space served as Basquiat’s main studio and is where some of his most significant paintings were made
Basquiat occupied the second floor of 57 Great Jones Street from 1983 until his death five years later in 1988 at age 27, a year after his mentor and the owner of the property Warhol died in 1987.
The space served as Basquiat’s main studio and is where some of his most significant paintings were made.
Basquiat’s art focused on dichotomies such as wealth versus poverty, integration versus segregation, and inner versus outer experience.
He would often use social commentary in his paintings as a tool for introspection and identifying his own experiences in the black community.
The historic building on Great Jones Street sits between Lafayette Street and Bowery.
The second floor of the two-story NoHo building has an ‘open loft space with high ceilings and multiple skylights,’ a previous listing by Meridian Capital Group reads.
Before it was owned by Warhol, the property served as a headquarters to notorious criminal Paul Kelly’s Five Points Gang.
Basquiat remained in the building until after Warhol’s sudden death in 1987, when he became convinced that Warhol’s estate was scheming to have him evicted
The commercial property is now equipped with upmarket furnishings including a bar
The property features polished concrete floors and exposed brick walls. An arch that used to connect the space to the building next door has been filled in with breeze blocks
In the building, Kelly – who in 1912 was labeled by the New York Times as ‘perhaps the most successful and the most influential gangster in New York history’ – would meet with influential politicians.
In 1904, a fatal gang shooting took place in the building’s first-floor ‘saloon.’
A property deed for 57 Great Jones Street which was signed by Andy Warhol
The property most recently housed a referral-only Japanese restaurant called Bohemian and according to the new listing ‘is a fully equipped restaurant space with venting and gas’ installed.
A listing showed images of the inside of the historic building, which, despite being a commercial space, is equipped with upmarket furnishings.
Basquiat remained in the building until after Warhol’s sudden death in 1987, when he became convinced that Warhol’s estate was scheming to have him evicted.
Just one year later, in August 1988, Basquiat died of a heroin overdose in the building aged just 27.
In 2016, Village Preservation, an architectural conservation society, installed a plaque on the building commemorating the artist, which reads ‘Basquiat’s paintings and other work challenged established notions of high and low art, race and class, while forging a visionary language that defied characterization.’
‘The second floor consists of open loft space with high ceilings and multiple skylights,’ boast the listing
The space is equipped with a commercial kitchen and according to Meridian Capital Group fitted with ventilation and gas
The second story loft in the building is where Basquiat worked, lived and eventually died aged just 27
According to New York City property records, the building was sold by Andy Warhol Associates in the late 1980s.
New York Supreme Court records indicate, however, the sale prompted a legal dispute between 57 Great Jones Street Associates and Andy Warhol Enterprises, Inc., regarding the separation of the 57 Great Jones Street and nearby 342 Bowery, connected and also famously owned by Warhol.
In the early 1900s the building hosted the ‘New Brighton Athletic Club’, which served as a headquarters to the Five Points Gang – one of the most dominant street gangs in New York City history and of which Lucky Luciano and Al Capone were both members.
Born Paolo Antonio Vaccarelli in the Bowery in 1876, Paul Kelly changed his name to associate with the politically powerful and influential politicians of New York at the time.
Although he began his career as a boxer in the late 1800s, Kelly’s attentions soon turned to prostitution and the business of highly lucrative brothels.
The exterior of the building has often been covered in graffiti – the medium that first made Basquiat famous
According to New York City property records the building was sold by Andy Warhol Associates in the late 1980s
In 2016, Village Preservation, an architectural conservation society, installed a plaque on the building commemorating Basquiat
After a stint in prison, he established the Paul Kelly Association, which was headquartered on Great Jones Street. He used the building to house a two-story café and dance hall in which he would wine and dine New York’s political elite.
A New York Times article dated November 24, 1905, described the fatal shooting of a gang member W.E. Harrington in the Kelly ‘saloon’ one day earlier.
‘The murder early yesterday morning in the fight in the saloon of Paul A. Kelly, 57 Great Jones Street, was committed in a nest of floaters is the conclusion indicated by a police inquiry,’ the article begins.
The news story noted that after the shooting, Paul Kelly went missing from the premises. It later speculated that ”Paul A. Kelly,” the proprietor of the place, was missing since the fight.
‘The police have his hat that shows a bullet hole through the crown, and they think he may have been hit in the fusillade in which Harrington was killed, and that he is hidden away by his friends until he can recover from his wounds.’
