Fifth Avenue
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This project was a complete renovation of an historic apartment in one of McKim, Mead & White’s first apartment buildings. At the turn of the 19th century, this building set the standard for luxury living in New York City. Over one hundred years later, we worked with Cullman & Kravis Interior Design to update the layout, flow, and detailing for modern living sympathetic to the historical context. Our sensitive renovation comprised new ceiling moldings, art and general lighting, all new built-ins, millwork, dressing and bathrooms, paneling, media room and library. Even the historic entry hall with Florentine ceiling paneling received a makeover with taller windows and doors to bring in natural light, and open connections between rooms. In addition to being a bright, expressive, congenial space, the vaulted and tiled kitchen hides the apartment’s mechanical system.
Interior Design: Cullman & Kravis; Photographer: Eric Piasecki; Stylist: Stephen Pappas
Rittenhouse
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With breathtaking views across downtown Philadelphia and out to the surrounding countryside, this Rittenhouse Square apartment needed a complete redo of architecture and decorating. Working with Brian McCarthy, we redesigned the full apartment — creating an entirely new floorplan with an elegant entry hall and living, library, and dining rooms flooded with light. The mouldings are a modern take on the traditional and frame the rooms in a comfortable but contemporary manner. The decorating reinforces the architecture through elegant plaster wall treatments, colors, rich silks, linens, and woven and printed cottons. Clearly separated public and private spaces contribute to the ease and comfort of living in this apartment whether entertaining or simply relaxing at home.
Photographer: Max Kim-Bee
East Side
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Longtime loft residents wanted to retain some “downtown feel” in this new uptown apartment. We transformed a choppy collection of small, dark rooms by removing walls, opening views over the city, and bringing light deep into the center of the apartment. Streamlined detailing nods to tradition in the overall modern design developed with decorators Foley & Cox.
Photographer: Bjorn Wallander
Central Park
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For this apartment — our third project for this owner — we were given the charge to create an update on a classic, pre-war New York apartment in an open space with no walls. Given an extraordinary setting overlooking Central Park, we made a large, central space for Living, Dining, and Library, and recreated the moldings from the owner’s then current living spaces. We used this classic detailing throughout the modern plan which gave long views through the apartment and out to the park. Modern elements such as framed glass walls and polished tiles and stone bring light deep into the apartment.
Photographer: Richard Powers; Stylist: Anita Sarsidi
Park Avenue
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In collaboration with Monica Ballesio interior design, we renovated this elegant Candela apartment on Park Avenue. While keeping much of the historic interiors, we designed new paneled rooms and details, creating an energy for both old and new. The elegant, classical architecture in rich woods, ebonies, and lacquered finishes provides a unique backdrop for the extraordinary art and formal and informal entertaining. The organization and design style continues to the bedrooms, dressing and bathrooms with playful and elegant touches for the start and finish of the day.
Photographer: Daniel D’Ottavio
West Side
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This light filled, modern take on a traditional interior transformed a drab upper East Side Manhattan apartment. We knocked down walls and opened up long views in a complete “gut” renovation. Working with Foley & Cox, we synthesized their interior design and our architecture to create an elegant setting for this couple’s collection of travel related art. Muted colors and simple, strong shadow lines in the detailing set up a framework for strong color pops in the art and furniture.
Photographer: Richard Powers; Stylist: Anita Sarsidi
Carnegie Hill
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The sleek lines of this apartment provide a comfortable setting for a family of six. Bright colors and textured surfaces are fun for the young children, while the architecture maintains an elegant framework for entertaining and dinner parties. Rich woods and marbles in crisp details and subtle contrasts show off Bella Mancini’s brightly colored, playful interiors.
Photographer: Peter Murdoch; Stylist: Olga Naiman
Manhattan - Kips Bay
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The Kips Bay Showhouse is a New York institution founded in the 1970’s by dedicated supporters of the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club as a way to raise critical funds for after school and enrichment programs for New York City children. Each year, selected designers and architects transform an historic Manhattan home through architecture, art, and technology. Working with Cullman & Kravis Associates Interior Design and IMI general contractors, we created a modern classical dining room, combining elegant traditional art and architecture with contemporary materials. The architecture frames the large bay window and a new mirrored chimney breast, while the circular ceiling references rooms of high Georgian buildings. Bright gold medallions and mirrors, colors, voluptuous surfaces and fabrics decorate the classical proportions.
Murray Hill
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A lush palette of wood vestibules and rich marbles offsets the clean, white openness of this loft apartment. The detailing recalls crisp, mid-century French apartments and provides a strong background to the colorful decoration.
Mr. Wright led the design and construction administration teams responsible for this project while a Principal with Hart Howerton. Photographer; David Sundberg, ESTO
Riverside
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This pre-war apartment with beautiful views over the Hudson River had been designed for another era, and many of the rooms had fallen into disuse, with the family crowding into the TV room at the back of the apartment. Through minimal replanning of the halls, we restored the views (and sunlight) to the full apartment, making it an elegant home for modern living.
Photographer: David Sundberg, ESTO
Palm Beach - Kips Bay
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With Sarah Magness, we designed a “Mindfulness Retreat” for the 2020 Palm Beach Kips Bay Decorator Show House. We remade the loft study overlooking a living room by Suzanne Kastler, to surround visitors with a gentle evocation of the senses, fusing the timelessness of antique Japanese furniture, sculpture, and decorative objects with a clean, transitional architecture. Subtle blues, greens and silvers weave through the architecture and decorating. Painted and natural wood beams frame Japanese plaster walls and a handpainted ‘Koi Pond’ wallpaper ceiling. A meditation bed sits at the center — a place to ease the tension of public daily life with peaceful reflection.