This converted warehouse in New York’s West Chelsea Arts District has a creative pedigree: it is where Broadway set designer John H Young created fantastical backdrops for the plays of Florenz Ziegfeld, George M Cohan and David Belasco in the early 20th century.

The four-storey warehouse is currently home to fashion firm Lopez Knudsen, which has honed its storied features and turned it into a live/work space. With 34-ft-high, beamed ceilings, the Manhattan property can be configured in many ways while large windows draw light into the interiors.

Now on the market via Christie’s International Real Estate for $18.5m, the three-bedroom warehouse is arranged around a soaring great room with patina brick walls. From here, a steel and timber staircase leads up to a double-height kitchen and dining area, outfitted with cabinets made from salvaged wine barrels.

Original skylights channel light down into the depths of the Manhattan property, including a ground floor studio space with concrete floors, which could be turned into an independent apartment.

The New York property clocks in at 6,400 sq ft, but the price tag reflects the fact that zoning laws allow for an additional 6-12,000 sq ft of buildable air-rights – meaning the home could be more than doubled in size.

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