Eric Gartner has never been the white-on-white type. A partner at SPG Architects, he's wont to describe all-white spaces as "abstract," and he dismisses apartments that "look like a spray gun was taken to them." So Gartner was dumbfounded at his first meeting with Rungravee Napadol and her husband, Larry Weinman, who were about to close on a triplex penthouse in a 1906 building in Chelsea. After sitting through Gartner's initial presentation and nodding appreciatively at the projects in his portfolio, Napadol turned to him and asked a provocative question: "What about white?"
A Thai-born jewelry designer, she knows a thing or two about white: She specializes in diamonds. And she sought the pale airiness of a beach house for her urban aerie. And so, Gartner says, "I had to find out how to do white my way." As is clear the moment you step through the triplex's front door, his way was to layer a variety of pale materials: bleached ash for flooring, figured anigré for kitchen cabinets and paneling, smooth and textured limestone for wall tile. It all adds up to an intriguingly tactile envelope that's far from spray-painted—and also a far cry from the space that Gartner initially encountered.
The interior started out as 3,600 square feet of raw, gaping space. (The previous owner had merged apartments on the 17th, 18th, and 19th floors, gutted all three, and divided them again, into two triplexes). While ample in size, this apartment was long and none too wide, with an awkward staircase in the middle. By removing that obstruction and tucking a new stair in back, Gartner was able to make the most of the narrow dimensions.
On the lowest floor, the longest of the three, he let the space flow rather than erecting walls for boxy rooms. The kitchen—with its peekaboo cabinetry—shares one end with a breakfast nook. Then come the dining and living areas. These public spaces line up on the apartment's south wall, with furniture groups defining each. Under the parade of windows, clean-lined lacquered cabinetry encloses heating and air-conditioning units. Nothing gets in the way of the drop-dead view, which embraces the Statue of Liberty and the Hudson River.
The middle level houses just a guest room and bath and a meditation room, a place where Napadol reflects before bedtime. On the top floor is the master suite, a little pavilion in the sky. Gartner pulled out all the stops for the bathroom, using snow-white Thassos marble for the vanity counter and floor and tracking down white onyx with minimal veining for the walls. He also repositioned the north-facing windows above the tub, so they perfectly frame the Empire State Building. The bedroom offers access to the suite's 700-square-foot private terrace. Here, Gartner turned an abandoned stairway bulkhead into a freestanding gym with full-height windows and an orange rubber floor. Then he attached an outdoor shower, an ipé enclosure that truly gives this city dwelling a beach-house feel.
While construction was under way, Napadol happened to meet CAD International principal Charles Allem at a Colin Cowie party. "Let me do your movie," Allem purred in her ear. Known for glam, he introduced it in tasteful doses—he stuck to a pale palette for furniture and textiles and made sure everything was luxurious to the touch. For the living area, he chose sand-colored silk chenille sofa upholstery, taupe silk Tibetan rugs, and two of Arne Jacobsen's Egg chairs covered in lambskin. Shagreen appears on the breakfast nook's banquette, which wraps two sides of a table topped by a generous square slab of marble. Sparkle and color play their parts, too. In the living area, floor lamps have bases made from stacks of polished-nickel spheres. Strands of Murano glass balls cascade from the chandelier in the dining area, defining without obstructing. In the master bedroom, the faux-fur throw on the bed and the tangerine leather on the desk chair enliven the shades-of-white palette, which Gartner has grown increasingly fond of.
"The white takes on the colors of the atmosphere," enthuses the architect, who worked with Napadol to come up with just the right tones for wall paint, adding a touch of cream and a pearly finish for the top and bottom levels, a drop of pink for the middle one. "As the day wears on and the sky changes, the apartment changes, too," he adds—sounding like nothing less than a convert.
Previous spread: At a Chelsea triplex by SPG Architects and CAD International, custom sofas covered in silk chenille and a pair of lambskin-upholstered Arne Jacobsen chairs define the living area. Floor lamps with a polished-nickel finish flank a framed Ming dynasty silk tapestry, while a custom silk rug softens the bleached-ash floor.
Below: Onyx tops the living area's round side table and cocktail table.
Opposite: Todd Rugee's Murano glass chandelier was customized to extend the full length of the custom dining table's high-gloss lacquered top.
Opposite: The breakfast nook's marble-topped table is surrounded by banquettes and stools covered in custom shagreen.
Below: Bleached anigré veneers the kitchen's custom cabinetry, equipped with stainless-steel pulls. The counters and backsplash are a crushed-glass composite, which is easy to clean and impervious to stains.
Below: The three-story staircase's bleached-ash steps rise alongside a wall clad in alternating squares of smooth and linen-textured limestone.
Opposite: Acid-etched glass fronts the stairwell's 20-foot-high cold-cathode lighting tube.
Above: A faux-fur throw covers the custom leather-upholstered bed in the master suite.
Opposite: A pair of sliding mirrors framed in stainless steel are mounted above the Thassos marble vanity counter in the master bathroom.
PROJECT TEAM (SPG ARCHITECTS): JOHN WATSON; MICHI YANIGASHITA. CHAIRS (LIVING AREA): FRITZ HANSEN THROUGH TROY. CUSTOM RUG: MARC PHILLIPS. CIRCLE LAMP: THROUGH MOSS. CUSTOM CREDENZA TOP: PLEXI-CRAFT QUALITY PRODUCTS CORP. ROUND SIDE TABLE: MINOTTI THROUGH DDC. WINDOW SHADE FABRIC (LIVING, DINING AREAS, BREAKFAST NOOK), BENCH FABRIC (DINING AREA): NANCY CORZINE. CUSTOM SOFAS (LIVING AREA), CUSTOM BANQUETTE (BREAKFAST NOOK), CUSTOM BED (BEDROOM): UPHOLSTERY UNLIMITED. CHAIR UPHOLSTERY, COCKTAIL TABLE, SQUARE SIDE TABLE (LIVING AREA), STOOL UPHOLSTERY (BREAKFAST NOOK), BED UPHOLSTERY, CURTAIN FABRIC (BEDROOM): J. ROBERT SCOTT. TABLE LAMP, FLOOR LAMPS (LIVING AREA), TABLE LAMP, DESK (BEDROOM): LORIN MARSH. SCONCES, CUSTOM CHANDELIER (DINING AREA): BOYD LIGHTING. CUSTOM TABLE, BENCHES, CREDENZA, MIRROR: BRUETON FURNITURE. TABLETOP MATERIAL (BREAKFAST NOOK): ABC STONE TRADING. CUSTOM BANQUETTE UPHOLSTERY, STOOL UPHOLSTERY (BREAKFAST NOOK), CHAIR UPHOLSTERY (BEDROOM): EDELMAN LEATHER. SINK (KITCHEN): BLANCO. SINK FITTINGS: DORNBRACHT. CABINET HARDWARE: HÄFELE. COUNTER, BACKSPLASH, PANEL MATERIAL: CHELSEA ARTS TILE & STONE. WALL TILE (STAIRWELL): COVERINGS ETC. (TEXTURED); STONE SOURCE (SMOOTH). STEP LIGHTS: BEGA. CATHODE TUBE: ARCHITECTURAL CATHODE LIGHTING. CUSTOM CHAIR (BEDROOM): AUGUST STUDIOS. SCONCE: PHOENIX DAY. CUSTOM CURTAINS (BEDROOM), CUSTOM WINDOW SHADES (BATHROOM): LA REGENCE. ROUND MIRRORS (BATHROOM): VALLI & VALLI. SINKS: KOHLER CO. SINK FITTINGS: KWC. CUSTOM DOORS, WINDOWS: SKYLINE WINDOWS. PAINT: BENJAMIN MOORE & CO. MILLWORK: JB WOODCRAFT. STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: HAGE ENGINEERING. GENERAL CONTRACTOR: ELJIN CONSTRUCTION.
