Architect David Webster's preserved High-Tech design home and office in New York, completed in 1981, has been purchased by countertenor and Opera Philadelphia general director Anthony Roth Costanzo. The apartment, located near the Chelsea Hotel, features an industrial, off-the-shelf aesthetic with repurposed vanity lightstrips, custom iron windows, and a sliding door. Webster and Costanzo discuss the home's history, design details, and the legacy of gatherings that once included writer and AIDS activist Larry Kramer.
The sale matters because it preserves a rare surviving example of High-Tech design, an architectural movement that emerged in the late 1970s, and ensures the space continues as a living environment rather than a museum. Costanzo's stewardship, guided by Webster himself, maintains the character and spirit of a home that was a hub for artists and thinkers, highlighting the ongoing relevance of adaptive, industrial design in contemporary living.