House Colorful
While no food is allowed in any room but the kitchen and dining room; otherwise this home radiates family. It is a visual education in the decorative arts with no two rooms having the same molding program or color scheme.
Every space was carefully designed in collaboration with the owners to express the use and purpose of the room, and to delight the family. This home has the solidity and history of classic architecture yet is filled with color.
The shear complexity of a residence without a repeating system required owner as cheerleader. Here, the husband stopped by regularly, cheering on the carpenters and finishers, the painters and tilers. His infectious enthusiasm for his future home fueled the team.
Architecture: John B. Murray Architect
Photography: Francesco Lagnese
Interior Designer: Katie Ridder
Working with an incredible painter, the ceilings were first plastered flat and then built up with layers of paint which were then wet sanded down into a near mirror reflection. Maintaining the original beams, and then adding false beams to make rooms symmetrical kept the upper ceilings as high as possible. But the highly reflective ceilings bring the rooms up and reflect light through the happy home.
Assembling multiple apartments gives multiple angles of light.
By combining apartments, light could move into the apartment from four directions. While this is common in houses, apartments rarely command full floors, particularly along Park Avenue.
Craftsmanship was appreciated
Every detail was considered. Dozens of choices for rugs were reviewed.
For the door to the intimate areas of the master bathroom, a frosted glass and bronze door was contemplated. From there the enjoyable collaboration among design team, client, and fabricators began.
While it is the twenty-first century, setting bronze inlay into a mahogany door is still important. How the bronze joins in two divergent lines is still important. How the grain runs is still important.
All four corners in this gallery had the exact same, perfectly aligned steeple. The final artisan is the plasterer, but without the rough framing being perfectly planned it would have been impossible.
This apartment could not have been built in 1929. Its use of high gloss paint on walls and ceilings surpasses the technical abilities of our predecessors.
