Portrait artist to European royalty and leading cultural figures, Michele Gordigiani reshaped Striano with architect Luigi Del Moro as a house for painting, music and entertaining. Its extraordinary limonaia draws on the same Florentine garden tradition as the famous grotto at the Boboli Gardens.

Built in 1887 for FDNY Engine Company No. 55, 185 Lafayette Street has evolved from firehouse to studio and residence, now serving as contemporary artist Daniel Arsham’s live-work home in SoHo.