Whether we’re designing a country house or a city residence, how a client wants to live informs every decision we make, from our very first sketches to the last of the architectural details. Here, we undertook a gut renovation of a prewar apartment on Park Avenue for a young couple who dreamed of a glamorous interior that would showcase their art and be suitable for entertaining, yet remain a family home for their three children and dog. Working with clients who were open to unconventional ideas and solutions made it a fun project, as did collaborating with designer Connie Newberry, who has a wonderful sense of color.

Over the course of the renovation, the apartment was stripped to the bones and built back—everything changed except the location of the stair, the building’s structural frame and the exterior walls. Taking our cues from the great apartments along Park Avenue, and the work of the original building architects, Delano and Aldrich, in the main public rooms, we introduced features like wood cladding in the stair hall that resembles rusticated stonework, the brass and bronze stair railing, raised panel wainscoting, and a fluted frieze detail on the overdoors. But since a family in the 21^st century lives in an apartment like this in a far different way than they would have in 1924 when the building was built, we further extended that same attention to detail into what used to be secondary spaces, adding features like a custom range hood supported by reeded marble brackets, a bookcase that swings open to reveal a second-floor fire door, and a butlers pantry with glass and brass shelves.

Throughout the public rooms on the lower floor of the apartment, we conceived spaces that would play multiple roles.  The library, lacquered in a vibrant green, is equally effective as a TV room where the family’s sports fans can gather to watch a Rangers game, as a comfortable spot to read a book, or as a stylish office to work at laptop on a fold-away desk. The dark, glamorous kitchen is perfect for morning coffee, an informal dinner, or cocktails during a party.  

The clients now have a one-of-a-kind, family-friendly home that reflects who they are and how they live.

Interior Design: Connie Newberry, Gerald Bland