Yankee Ferry, left; Mary Whalen, right

Two articles within two days are making me wonder if re-purposed historic vessels might be becoming  trendy in design circles around New York City.   Curbed, a New York real estate blog featured the 1907 Yankee Ferry in “Hudson River’s Coolest, Oldest Floating Home”  – “Taking transportation nostalgia to the next level, a couple has retrofitted an old Ellis Island Ferry as their very own floating home. Photographer Navid Baraty boarded the good ship last month to shoot what may be one of the best styled abodes west of on the Hudson.“

“The 1907 Yankee Ferry was affixed with guns and canons and was first used by the U.S. Army to patrol the Boston Harbor during World War I. In the 1920s, the Yankee was used by Ellis Island to transport newly arrived immigrants from the island to Manhattan, many of whom were kept below decks on their transatlantic voyage and are said to have obtained their first views of New York City from the decks of the [ship].”

Yesterday, Wendy Goodman’s Design Hunting blog in New York magazine featured the Tanker Mary Whalen, which the PortSide New York organization uses as headquarters and offices, in Behind Closed Doors: Good Views, Spacious Deck, Loads of Natural Light.   The blog is described as “inside access to the city’s most exciting homes, design studios, parties and more from New York magazine’s design editor.”   Who knew a coastal tanker would be so interesting to a design editor?  The Mary Whalen is indeed lovely but we never expected the design  cognoscenti to figure that out.