West 23rd Street

A one-bedroom with a 230-square-foot private terrace, in one of West Chelsea’s most coveted condominiums — 781 square feet in all, and the terrace is the part almost nothing else in the building has. The exposure is northern, which in this neighbourhood is the point rather than the compromise: steady, even light all day, the light the galleries two streets away are built around, and never the glare that makes a south-facing room unusable at four o’clock. It falls well on the hardwood floors. The kitchen has been renovated — granite counters, dark maple cabinetry, stainless appliances — and passes through to the living room, so the cook is never shut away from it. The bedroom sits at the back of the apartment behind pocket doors, with its own fitted closet, which is what makes a one-bedroom of this size live as a home rather than a studio with a wall. The layout is generous and open enough to be rearranged by whoever takes it on. 555 West 23rd Street is a pet-friendly luxury condominium with a two-storey lobby and waterfall, a 24-hour doorman and concierge, in-house valet parking and a garage on site, a 2,000-square-foot fitness centre, a residents’ lounge, bike storage, and a 9,000-square-foot landscaped courtyard with fountains. The High Line, Hudson River Park, Chelsea Piers, Chelsea Cove, Clement Clarke Moore Park and several hundred galleries are all immediately outside.