More than a place to live

Ross Green had other challenges. She bought what was a 1,400-square-foot bachelor pad in the elevator housing at 11 Riverside Dr. in 1997 with assurances that an elevator would be built. Instead, delays due to structural complications meant her husband, Walter Green, who was confined to a wheelchair with Lou Gehrig's disease, had to be carried up a flight of stairs for 15 months.

They finally got the elevator, and the couple added another 1,400 square feet to create a spacious penthouse. Ross Green's husband died in 2001, and the property is now listed with Brown Harris Stevens brokers Janet Gifford and Jane Allner for $4.35 million.

Most important to Ross Green is that her husband, formerly a sailor, spent the last years of his life in a rooftop aerie with Hudson River views.

"He felt the water was very restorative, and it made him calm and less anxious about his disease," she said. "He used to sit out here on the terrace -- he just loved it."

Alison Gregor is a freelance writer.
Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc.

Modular Construction in New York