The maisonette apartment is in a landmarked 1913 building on Park Avenue.  The main level was up a half story from the sidewalk and had an elegant series of rooms fronting 61st street.   The clients — after seeing my work at 810 Fifth Avenue — asked me to review their plans.  The initial design was for a formal apartment with a grand staircase leading, essentially, to a servants kitchen on the lower level.  They had just had a baby (and would have another by the time the project was completed) and I felt the design was as expensive as it was impractical — there was no comfortable “family” space adjacent to the kitchen and the elaborate staircase going down into a basement was simply a waste of money.  After touring the apartment — which had been completely gutted — we went for drinks at the Regency Hotel on Park Avenue and there, I literally sketched a new design on a napkin.

          This became the basis of the completed project: a series of “formal” rooms on the main level with the more practical “family” rooms below.  A private stair leads from the lobby to the Entrance Hall, which opens to the Living Room, Study and the Bedroom Wing.  I established a seventy-five foot enfilade from the Living Room, through the Conservatory to the Dining Room, all along 61st Street, and “anchored” by the fireplaces at either end.  The Library faced the building’s courtyard and I replaced the window with a pair of French Doors and added a Juliette Balcony to overlook the greenery beyond.   I concealed a Butler’s Pantry and “service” stair just off the Entry Hall, through a hidden door.  This space was also accessed behind sliding antiqued-mirrored doors in the Conservatory as well as through another hidden door in the Dining Room.  The mirrored doors would remain open in daily family use, but could be closed when a more formal event required it — and the central location of the Butler’s Pantry meant that any service staff would have full run of the apartment hidden from view of any guests.  In the Bedroom Wing were a Primary Suite — with His and Her’s Bathrooms — a Child’s Bedroom and another Bedroom/Office that became the nursery when their second child was born.  The Kitchen and Family Room, the Laundry, and a Staff Bedroom were in the lower level — with access to both the street above as well as the service core of the building.

         None of the original finishes remained, so all of the casework, moulding, flooring, stonework, mosaics, etc., were designed by me — with the intention that it should look as if it was original to 1913, with a few modern touches.   Fortunately the clients shared in this vision  and together we managed to create a new “historic” apartment — all from a scribbled sketch on a napkin!