This bucolic rooftop cottage with porch, garden and lawn is just around the corner from me at 719 Greenwich Street. It belongs to David Puchkoff, a developer and Eileen Stukane, a writer, who live on the top floor of the building. Puckhoff developed the building years ago and and after a visit to a friend’s house in rural Elk Lake, PA, decided to build this little secret gem. It looks like a self-contained house, but it’s not. In a 2005 NY Times article, he explains;

“The porch is basically a glorified bulkhead over a hole punched in the ceiling of the family’s loft to make way for a nautical stairway that rises to a landing with a galley-like kitchenette, with two paned windows and a door that opens to the roof. Now the couple doesn’t have to leave the city to hear the slam of a screen door, or watch a flock of mourning doves pecking for insects and seeds across the meadow.”

Want to know more about maintain a rooftop garden in the city? Watch below.

(via NY Curbed)