On New York’s Upper West Side, an apartment located within the 1931 Majestic building has been home to a family for generations. The client grew up in the residence located at 115 Central Park West, which was also home to her great grandmother, grandmother, and two aunts and an uncle. After her parents passed away, the client purchased the residence to make it a new home for her own family. Local architecture firm Studio ST Architects, along with interior decorator Maggie Rosenblatt Design, transformed the client’s childhood home to better suit the family, without losing the traces of its history.
There are 4 beds and 4.5 baths inside the 3,500-square-foot apartment. The architects opened up the layout to allow a more free-flowing floorplan. Maggie Rosenblatt shared with AN Interior, “During our first walkthrough together, it became very apparent the client was emotionally attached to this space and its belongings, although she had no particular fondness to any specific thing in the apartment.” She continued, “She said, ‘I want white.’ I think this was her way of making something that was always her mothers into her own home.”
The client’s desire drove the soft ivory white now coating the walls, accented by light wood floors and ample natural light. This color and material palette effuses tranquility. The design exhibits comfort through sherpa-covered Little Petra accent chairs and lush, velvet sofas paired with quirky sconces hung in the living room and family room. Many of the client’s parents’ well-upholstered pieces were maintained and refashioned with monochromatic fabric to breathe new life into them but in the client’s style.
For Esther Sperber, founding principal at Studio ST, the most rewarding and challenging component of the renovation was redefining the kitchen. She said, “The original space was a maze of small and non-functional spaces including a kitchen, two maid’s rooms, a maid’s bathroom, and a butler’s pantry. We were able to combine these spaces to create a large and sunny Kosher kitchen with a generous eat-in area.” Neutral tones were also used in the dining room, where a Carl Hansen & Søn oak dining table is surrounded by eight dark gray merino wool and wood chairs from Maiden Home. The ensemble invites people to circle around for warm discussions over hot meals. These soft grays and tans were also applied in the kitchen where white oak and marble was used on the cabinets and backsplash.
“My favorite element in the apartment are the new metal and glass doors between the foyer and dining room, and between the dining room and kitchen,” Sperber shared. “They are sleek and simple, and yet functional and timeless. They allow these three spaces to be visually connected, yet separate and distinct.” What was originally a hindrance to the divided rooms is now an elegant and airy way to separate space.
Original pieces of art add colorful, sentimental touches to the home, as do a pair of vintage glass sconces that were once in the client’s mother’s dressing room. The decorative candle holders have found a new home in the powder room as an accent to the Nubo Verde stone slab by Ann Sacks on the wall behind the sink and countertop.
Studio ST and Maggie Rosenblatt Design sensitively took the original home and modified it to better complement the next generation. The design pays homage to what was there before, creating new memories in old comforts.