This sleek Little Italy loft started life as a stable for the New York Police Department’s equine recruits…

Number 136 Baxter Street was built in 1915, close to the NYPD’s lauded Beaux Arts headquarters. The New York property’s police career was short-lived though: from 1927 the red-brick building switched to civilian life, becoming a warehouse for manufacturing equipment, and was duly re-named the Grand Machinery Exchange.

A century later, architects Mark Dubois and Ed Rawlings were enlisted to turn the striking structure into 12 apartments – one of which is for sale with agents Nick Gavin and Josh Doyle at Compass for $3.45m.

Typically for a New York loft, apartment 5C has an open-plan living room, dining area and kitchen. But what’s surprising is just how vast it is – 768 sq ft to be exact. Twelve oversized steel-framed tilt and turn windows exaggerate its dimensions, drenching the interiors with light.

The apartment is filled with new and period features including original cast iron columns, 11-ft-tall pine beamed ceilings and white-painted brickwork.

And though it’s just got one bedroom, it’s a big one, capped by tall ceilings and kitted out with a walk in closet and ensuite.

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