Rossilynne and Shane Culgan signed a lease for their New York apartment from their kitchen in Pittsburgh, Pa. “We rented it sight unseen,” Ms. Culgan said.
That is technically true but not entirely accurate.
They carried the idea of moving to the city as far back as they can remember. “We have both always dreamed of living in New York,” Ms. Culgan said.
There were several visits, including the summer of 2018 when the couple found themselves on the rooftop bar of their hotel. “It was a lovely night,” recalled Mr. Culgan. He took out his phone and snapped pictures of the crowded Manhattan skyline surrounding him.
“As I was looking around, one building stood out immediately,” he recalled. It was a steel high-rise, shaped like contorted pyramid. “It just stood out among the typical glass box skyscrapers around it. I said, ‘Can you imagine living in a building that looks like that? It’s such a cool design.’”
But moving to New York really was just an idea. “Each time we visited,” he recalled, “we’d say, ‘We really want to move here,’ but then we’d go back to Pittsburgh and back into the thick of everyday life and it was an idea that just vanished.”
One year passed, followed by another. There were more visits to New York but it was always the same experience.
Then came Covid.
“The pandemic was really clarifying,” Ms. Culgan said. “It showed us there are a lot of different ways to live and work and I figured if we really want to make this move, we have to figure out a way to make it happen.”
That’s when the idea started feeling more like a plan.
Mr. Culgan knew he could continue his work in marketing remotely, and Ms. Culgan wanted to build on her early career as a journalist. She applied to the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Her acceptance letter in the spring of 2021 made the timeline for the move very real with a fall start date.
The Culgans made a four-day trip to the city with her parents. In that brief window of time, they saw approximately 20 apartments — all a short walk from the Columbia campus. “It was an absolute whirlwind,” she said, “and none of them were working out. There was some really challenging ones that I looked at.”
One apartment was next to an overhead subway line, many were too loud, some were too small. There was a fifth-floor walk-up in one case, no air conditioning in another. “We found one above a fast food restaurant called the Chirping Chicken and we thought that was the one.”
$4,903 | Midtown West, Manhattan
Rossilynne Culgan, 36; Shane Culgan, 37
Occupations: Journalist and law student
On loving what you do: Ms. Culgan knew she wanted to be a journalist as far back as middle school. As the “things to do” editor at Time Out magazine she regularly attends events throughout the five boroughs. “I cover art shows, book events, burlesque, comedy shows — you name it,” she said. “I feel like it’s one of the coolest jobs in the city.” Her book, “Secret New York City: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure,” was published last year by Reedy Press.
On hiding from the city: Via 57 features an interior garden for residents of the building. “It’s one of my favorite places,” Mr. Culgan said. “You don’t hear traffic noise. You step outside and it’s like you’re not in New York, even though you are. It’s sort of strange.”
The Culgans headed back home, certain the matter was settled. “We thought we had the apartment locked in,” she said. “We got our application in right away but there were a lot of other people there looking at it. My hunch is that someone decided to pay more than the listed rent.”
At that point the she was little more than a month removed from the start of school. “I was completely panicked.”
She and Mr. Culgan began a second search from scratch. When they expanded the field of possibilities well beyond the Columbia campus, a familiar yet entirely unexpected possibility came up. “She sent me links to this building,” recalled Mr. Culgan, “and I said, ‘Wait a minute that’s the building, that’s the one I have pictures of on my phone from three years ago.’”
It was Via 57, the building with the distinct triangular shape.
“When we first saw that building,” he said, “we never imagined for a second it would be in the realm of possibility. It was sort of ——.”
“Kismet,” Ms. Culgan interjected.
“Yeah, that’s the word, actually. I just assumed a building that looks like this building does, I expected it to be so far out of reach. Not that it’s cheap by any means. But I just assumed it was for people who are in way different tax brackets than we are.”
When they were offered the available one-bedroom, they declined the opportunity to drive to New York for a viewing before signing the lease. There wasn’t time. “The woman from the building said, ‘Do you at least want to do a tour on Zoom?’ We were like fine but we just want to sign,” Ms. Culgan said, laughing.
Mr. Culgan drove their stuffed U-Haul truck from Pittsburgh. Ms. Culgan followed behind in the couple’s car with their cat. They arrived just days before she began classes.
“The moment of relief for me,” Mr. Culgan recalled, “was once we got in the building and looked at unit and realized it was exactly what we thought it would be. It’s like this fear of meeting your hero. What if it’s not as cool when we actually get there?”
The proximity to Columbus Circle made it easy for Ms. Culgan to get to school, and the range of subway options still serves her in her work covering arts and culture events for Time Out magazine.
Mr. Culgan left his job to go to New York Law School in TriBeCa full time. Many of his classmates do their studying in work spaces provided at the school. Not Mr. Culgan. He prefers to save on subway fare and stay in the exact spot he admired all those years ago on a breezy summer night. “Why would I spend all this money just to go study at school all day?” he asked. “I love the building and I love our apartment.”
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