Due to the severe physical deterioration of the building, the Phalanstery sold the property and moved into a brownstone in the sugarhill neighborhood in upper Manhattan.
Richard and Dorothea Tyler, two artists who met while attending the Chicago Institute of Fine Art c. 1956, established the Uranian Phalanstery in 1974.
The Phalanstery was concerned with confronting the ethos of society, interjecting spiritual aspects into everyday life, and pioneering what is now referred to as 'new age' ideas.
Richard viewed creativity as "a mantic procedure of the intuitive function" and was dedicated to merging life with art by building a supportive, nurturing community of like-minded artists.
Artists who were influenced by, the Phalanstery was influenced by the contemporary psychedelic movement and made contact with innovative creators and thinkers including Peter Shauman, Axel Gross, Timothy Leary, Monroe Wheeler, Al Hensson, Claes Oldenburg, Ornette Coleman, Thom D'Vita, Nick Bubash, and Ed Hardy.