West End Avenue Residence
New York City. Completed in 2004.
This two bedroom apartment in a landmarked prewar apartment building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side needed more places to put stuff: efficient closets, kid’s room storage, more bookshelves for an extensive library, and the one extra room in the apartment (a former maid’s room) needed to be a laundry room, den, and office. The clients didn’t want to compete with the prewar room layout and materials, so we chose a warm and woody midcentury Danish aesthetic that allowed some modernity but also had thoughtful detailing and solidly made cabinets and doors that reflected the quality of the apartment’s finishes.
Their son’s bedroom needed flexible shelving that would grow with him (and it did- over the next decade it took him from Legos and robots to a running shoe collection and homework desk) and we designed a system of adjustable shelves and display spaces with a pull-out desk that allowed two work heights. The materials are a playful mix of fruit woods and mahogany with corkboards.
In the master bedroom we added new closets and rebuilt the master bathroom completely, removing the old (and unused) bathtub, tiling the walls with seaglass-colored glass tiles, and putting in a glass-enclosed shower.
Throughout the apartment, new solid walnut and glass doors were made, a subtly modern way to enter their prewar spaces
