Need an Answer? Check the Mail…

I had the pleasure to see how the other half lives recently in the Apthorp. Well, not really, nobody lives there yet, it’s for sale… It’s beautifully styled and finished, and to make it even more special, there are no pictures.

I LOVE this building - a top pick in my book. It was designed by Clinton & Russell for William Waldorf Astor, for privileged residents and rightly so. It occupies an entire city block on Broadway and 79th, and rather than the typical air shaft in the middle of a building for light and ventilation, this one has a really beautiful courtyard in the center. This is soooo rare here… Walk through one of the 2 arched entrances and you know you’ve come somewhere special. It is like another world inside those walls…never mind a seemingly busy location.

There are 4 entrances inside, one in each corner and a few doors on each floor – mirrored ones. The apartments are big, the ceilings are high, the rooms are generous in scale, and the windows are big. Better yet there are no bad views in or out. All of these elements together give the apartments a super high quality feel.

One of my favorite parts in many I’ve seen are the entrance foyers. Mr. Astor knew the meaning of an entrance. They’re real rooms - large and round in many cases with beautiful molding, floors, and curved doors. The one I saw recently had a center table in an octagon. Within a second of stepping inside, I was done… I wanted to stay or buy if I could.

This experience got me thinking about how to pull off an octagon shaped entrance. After all, that would be easier than a round, and less complicated than having curved doors made. But truth be told, even this could be difficult to pull off, especially in spaces constrained by fixed architectural elements.

Then an idea came my way by mail…

I opened the SICS catalog and there it was - a round carpet like pattern in tile. This could very well be the answer to creating the illusion of a shape, even if you can’t quite get there architecturally. Very interesting - in tile or wood.

BTW take a look at the window grilles and the mirrored ceiling – also super cool…