I wouldn’t ordinarily peep in on a loft that’s for sale, but since 67 Vestry had been fully sold for ages (yes, this apartment was spoken for but then released back into the market), I didn’t think I would have a chance to get inside. And I have so many happy memories from parties in that building from the early 2000s. So when the interior designer Guillaume Coutheillas of frenchCALIFORNIA offered to tour me around, there was no way I would decline. The decor here is all his; the views are 100 percent Tribeca and Hudson River Park. It’s listed for $50 million.

So the loft building from the late 1800s now has 15 apartments; two were set aside for former tenants who never left when everyone else packed up or was bought out when the developer Aby Rosen sold the building in 2018 to Iliad Realty Group. Construction started that fall — yes, six years ago — and just finished.

The building’s yellow brick facade has never looked cleaned to me since the shrouds were removed, but it’s hard to spot the addition from the street. The view from Washington gives you a good look at the penthouse I visited.

That building was always special; the penthouse, a duplex, is also pretty spectacular thanks to the floor-to-ceiling windows at what is a 12-foot ceiling. It’s 6200 square feet, with 2000 square feet of decks on three levels. The sun coming through is amazing — there’s nothing to block it east or west. And the texture of the city from there is so rich. Plus you can spy on the decks of 70 Vestry next door.

A history is below.

The building was designed in 1896 by architect F.P. Dinkelberg (who also designed the Flatiron Building) as a tea and coffee warehouse for the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company — aka the A&P, which eventually became the grocery chain until 1990. The building was then used as artist’s lofts. Residents of the building, who in 2014 led an unsuccessful effort to landmark it, compiled this historic description:

“From the circa 1900 photo of the building (Collections of the Museum of the City of New York), the new A&P warehouse is a handsome palazzo with two-story Romanesque openings for the loading docks, and an extremely fine iron cornice. Its pale brick adds a touch of lightness as to the oversized ground floor windows. The small iron balconies on the east side add an unexpected flourish (they are since removed). It’s thick walls and striated brick patterning convey a hint of medieval fortress, a safe place to store food, come hell or high water.

“In 1910 the building’s new owner hired Frank J. Helmle, of the firm McKim, Meade & White, for the addition of two floors.

“The building was used as artist lofts in the late 1960s and 1970s and was the first to be given a legal certificate of occupancy for residential use in 1977. The 1970s in fact began a new chapter for the building as home and backdrop to internationally recognized artists and composers. It was clearly one of several key centers of Tribeca’s rebirth through art after the destabilization of the neighborhood and massive destruction of the Washington Street Urban Renewal Plan. The sculptor Marisol lived and worked here, as did John Chamberlain, and Robert Wilson (director, sculptor collaborator with Philip Glass on Einstein on the Beach). Wim Wenders filmed part of An American Friend here. Laurie Anderson used it as a backdrop for her album Big Science.”