Palace

View

Apartments

Danbury,       Connecticut

Introduction

The Developer

The Residents

The Member

The Architect

The Numbers

Danbury

The Architect

Lewis Zurlo, of Lewis Zurlo Associates, was the architect for Palace View Apartments.

Panoramic View of Palace View Community Room

View of the Palace View commercial building.

Palace View Apartments had to be a very simple building to keep the costs down. So we selected a jumbo-sized brick instead of a regular brick to save some money.

But we also wanted to put a base on the building, so we chose a ground-faced block for the first story. Then we had a special brick — a curving brick — which made the transition to the red brick above.

We also had the center of the building and the ends of the building come out just about six inches to keep it from being this large flat plain. And we emphasized the middle of the building by creating a large canopy with a skylight, Cars can drive under this and people can sit under it to read their papers. It's a dramatic little entrance that gives the building some character and makes the building feel very bright and airy as you come in.

At the top of the building, we used a drivet material to give the building a base, a middle, and a top. This was about three or four feet of white stucco-like material with little green accents in it.

Also, instead of using the usual anodized, dark-brown aluminum windows, we used Hartford green for the entryway doors, the mullions, and the windows to make it a little more residential looking.

Residents leaving their Palace View apartment.

As far as the interior goes, these were all one-bedroom units, so it's repetitive. But to keep the corridor from feeling like one long corridor with no breaks, we've recessed not only the doorway but also a section of the door at each apartment entrance. We also broke up the length of the corridor by putting special lights over the entrance of each apartment, in addition to the typical recessed florescent light fixtures that run down the center.

In order to give everybody total control over the heating and cooling, each apartment has its own gas-fired unit (instead of central and window units) to control the heating and the cooling. That way, residents can get the temperature exactly how they want it.

An Appropriate Location
The downtown area was the correct place to put Palace View. Many of these seniors do not have their own cars, but they still like to walk to stores and parks and movies. I think senior housing should be located near the center of a town or a city rather than on the outskirts.

I haven't had a great deal of experience with elderly housing. I don't know what would make more sense than what we've just talked about. We are talking about doing another project in downtown Danbury that is very similar, so there seems to be a demand and a need for this in our area.

All of the apartments have to be handicapped accessible. Usually, in other type of projects, there's more variety, but for the elderly, the one-bedroom apartment is the most desirable situation for them. It's not terribly expensive, and that's all they need.

Also, the other types of projects usually need more parking. A lot of the elderly do not have cars, so parking requirements are less. Because of this you can have a little more planting and landscaping.

As an architect, I just try to think about what I would want if I were in their position. Sometimes we get a chance to talk to potential clients who will be living in a building and listen to their ideas.

Most of the residents want a central laundry and a community room. They like a little area (covered or uncovered) where they can sit outdoors and maybe a little garden area where they can plant some flowers or vegetables.

I'm practically a senior citizen myself. I'm 67, so I'm more or less in a situation to use my own experience and try to build on that. I learn not only from my experience and the mistakes I might make, but also from the people who live in the buildings. Oftentimes, we visit a housing project later on to get comments, good or bad. We try to build on that mentally so that the next time we can avoid those problems or try to add something they requested.

Next year, it will be 30 years since I opened my office. I've always worked in Danbury, and I've always worked downtown. I have an interesting saying that I used to tell people: "I think I'm one of the only architects in the country who is able to walk to all of his jobs."

I've really worked on Main Street. I've done many buildings on Main Street or within walking distance of Main Street. That doesn't mean I've done all of them downtown, but I've certainly done a large portion of them. I'm kind of proud of that, but it does mean I've had to do all kinds of work in order to survive.