In the late summer afternoons, as the surrounding buildings and trees cast cool shadows on Bond Street, there are few better places for a sun-dappled stroll through Manhattan. Even though you can likely walk the entire passage back and forth in under five minutes, it says something about the calm vibe of this strip that you’ll probably want to walk it again before venturing into the college campus that surrounds it.
Cobblestone streets offer the feel of old New York, yet the surrounding buildings are anything but dated with their bold and modern style. That said, the condos thankfully harken back to a time when contemporary condo didn’t translate to “jarringly incongruous with all of the surrounding architecture” (cough, Williamsburg, cough). Instead, these buildings are tastefully and seamlessly integrated with the older surrounding buildings, with the untamed white ribbon facade of 40 Bond making the most aggressive effort to grab hold of your attention.
And those buildings: Some of Noho’s most sought-after condo complexes call Bond Street their home, from the aforementioned 40 Bond to the distinguished 41 and 25 Bond condos. 25 Bond, a catchy address that would look impressively embossed onto any stationary, is especially unique – a multi-family collaboration between owners and developers with massive common spaces that give the whole building the feeling of a large home.
Any condo on Bond is prime real estate, and this is reflected in the apartments themselves – well-appointed, spacious, pet-friendly, and, like Bond Street itself, tastefully hip. Even the neighborhood dining options, like the upscale casual The Smile, Il Buco, and the new Thai restaurant Fish Cheeks offer lively but intimate environments that cater to locals and foodies alike, from bar-regulars to big parties foisting forks over shared plates.
It’s maybe not too much of a stretch, then, to look at Bond as the more learned, polished-looking sibling to St. Marks Place. While St. Marks has long been seen as a party block, belonging to throngs of out-of-towners and students from NYU, and offering a nearly endless selection of street-side attractions and distractions (some known for their somewhat lax attitudes towards the legal drinking age), Bond can be seen as something of a playground for a more refined clientele. Instead of novelty t-shirts and cheap sunglasses, for example, there’s Dashwood Bookstore and its selection of high-quality hardcover photography books.
And unlike its NoHo neighbor to the north, which stretches well past the confines of its 3rd to 2nd Avenue main drag and far into the wilds of the East Village, Bond Street remains confined to two immaculately designed and curated blocks. We wouldn’t blame Bond residents for straying those few blocks from their cozy quarters, however, if only to relive their wild youth in a few rounds (or beer and The Simpsons arcade game, of course) at Barcade, or a late-night binge at Mamoun’s. But why would they even bother when a stiff negroni and a plate of Il Buco’s farm fresh tagliatelle awaits them only a few numbers down from their home address.