If you thought McMansions were strictly a suburban phenomenon, think again. Pseudo palaces are multiplying in New York as well, says Fox-Nahem Design's Joe Nahem—who finds them stacked one on top of the other in brand-new luxury apartment towers. But city real-estate developers, unlike their suburban counterparts, rarely give purchasers any options in hardware, finishes, or floor plans. "That's why you see Dumpsters outside new buildings," Nahem says. "People rip everything out and start over."
Luckily, that didn't turn out to be the plight of a longtime Nahem client who'd signed a contract on a 3,800-square-foot floor-through that was being touted as "a Fabergé egg. . .a canary diamond"—but was actually still a work in progress. Nahem encouraged him and his wife to negotiate with the developer. "They wouldn't budge on the kitchen, but we got them to give us four and a half empty bathrooms," the designer says triumphantly.
The owners were bringing nothing with them except for a collection of paintings and photographs by the likes of Richard Prince, Barbara Kruger, and Andreas Gursky. With such powerful art to hang, Nahem settled on a restrained color scheme that delves into every dimension of beige and brown. Because the apartment also had to be user-friendly for a toddler, Nahem turned the large dining room into a TV room where the family could hang in high style. "They didn't need a formal dining room," he notes. "An apartment should work for 95 percent of your life—it shouldn't be designed for Thanksgiving and Christmas." For the TV room, he designed a sofa long enough to look like a banquette, then covered it in chocolate-brown leather and silk velvet. He also placed a small round table and three chairs nearby for family meals. The upholstered walls absorb traffic noise and make the room feel like a chic cocoon.
When it came to adding architectural elements, form followed function. "None of these new apartments have overhead lighting," Nahem explains. "To make the ceilings high, they build to the slab." In the TV room, he extended the soffit that hides the air-conditioning vents, allowing him to ring the room with downlights, and clad the underside of the soffit in walnut. He built complementary walnut-sheathed alcoves at either end of the living-dining room and, down the middle, installed a fluted walnut architrave to define function areas and to house yet more light fixtures.
To counterbalance the apartment's mass-produced quality, Nahem used vintage furniture almost exclusively. He also masked or replaced the acres of wallboard with fabric, paper, and hand-waxed tinted plaster. For the living area, he chose a 19th-century Oushak rug even though it had to be cut to fit. "It's nice to have something antique in a new apartment," he explains. Fabrics and throw pillows accented with metallic threads inject glamour into the neutral tones, and bronze and brass accents appear everywhere from chair arms in the living area to the base of the dining table. "When I was just out of Parsons in the 1980's, I was very anti shiny brass," he says. "But it works well here." He toyed with tradition by upholstering a 1950's Edward Wormley settee in classic damask. The layering of so many materials—fabric, fur, leather, wood—makes the rooms simultaneously dynamic and tranquil.
In the master bedroom, Nahem went monochromatic. "Almost mother-of-pearl" is how he describes it. Together, the parchment covering a pair of low chests, the silk blend used for the focal wall, headboard, and curtains, and the silk carpet create a kind of tone poem. The mother-of-pearl palette then extends to the master bath, where honed limestone covers the walls and marble tops the double vanity. There's a capacious shower but no bathtub—in Manhattan, even big-money clients make compromises. In this case, Nahem traded the tub for a separate WC.
A long central corridor leads the way to the kitchen, where simple upgrades personalize the standard-issue fare. To replace the original granite counter, for example, Nahem found an extraordinary gray-and-white marble that's more striped than veined. He also inserted wavy glass in the doors on the upper cabinets, blurring cereal boxes and soup cans into abstract art.
One of the few art-free spaces is the powder room—which dazzles with shimmering penny-round tiles of alloy-brushed stainless steel, framed by borders of snow-white Corian and illuminated by a pair of Italian frosted-glass sconces, circa 1960. Checking out your reflection in a mirror of the same vintage, you'd swear you were in an exclusive nightclub or boutique hotel, not a McMansion in the sky.
Previous spread, left: In the master bedroom of a New York apartment by Fox-Nahem Design, a Serge Mouille sconce rotates above a parchment-covered chest of drawers, circa 1940. The wall and headboard are upholstered in silk-nylon.
Previous spread, right: The main hallway's vinyl wall covering contrasts with a custom runner in wool and silk.
Opposite: Faux silk covers the walls in the foyer, where stools by François Monnet, circa 1970, sit below a Dirk Skreber painting in oil and ink jet.
Left, from top: A walnut architrave demarcating the living and dining areas. The latter's 1970's table in goatskin and brass, surrounded by 1960's Vladimir Kagan chairs. French 1950's ceramic lamps flanking a James Casebere photograph in living area's alcove. Right: Also in the living area, a 1950's floor lamp by Jacques Adnet stands next to a vintage Kagan sofa and George Nakashima table.
Previous spread: The living area's 1950's Edward Wormley settee faces a pair of 1968 Paul Tuttle armchairs. Between stands a custom velvet-upholstered ottoman.
Opposite: In the TV room, a 1960's lounge chair by Preben Fabricius and Jorgen Kastholm faces away from an acrylic on canvas by Richard Prince.
Left, from top: A mixed-media work by Barbara Kruger in the TV room. The new marble counter in the existing kitchen. Blackboard on the door to the "flex" room, off the kitchen. Right: The TV room's focal point is suspended over a hanging cabinet by Phillip Lloyd Powell.
Left: The 1960's chair in the master bedroom is acrylic. Right, from top: German 1950's lamps illuminating a Thomas Ruff photograph in the elevator vestibule. Alloy-brushed stainless-steel tile and Corian trim in the powder room. An Ed Ruscha lithograph hanging against the study's oak-veneer wall covering.
Opposite: The master bathroom features an English 1930's theatrical light overhead.
PROJECT TEAM: DAVID GORMAN. SCONCE (BEDROOM): THROUGH GUERIDON. CHEST (BEDROOM), SOFA (LIVING AREA): THROUGH PASCAL BOYER GALLERY. CUSTOM BED (BEDROOM), CUSTOM OTTOMAN (LIVING AREA), CUSTOM SOFA (TV ROOM): DIVINE CUSTOM UPHOLSTERY. HEADBOARD UPHOLSTERY (BEDROOM), WALL COVERING (BEDROOM, TV ROOM), SOFA FABRIC, CHAIR FABRIC (LIVING AREA), CURTAIN FABRIC (BEDROOM), WINDOW SHADE FABRIC: BERGAMO FABRICS. WALL COVERING (HALL): DESIGNTEX. CUSTOM RUNNER (HALL), CUSTOM CARPET (STUDY): AM COLLECTIONS. STOOLS (FOYER): THROUGH PAVILION; KELEEN LEATHERS (UPHOLSTERY). CEILING FIXTURE: THROUGH BERND GOECKLER ANTIQUES. SCONCE (FOYER), MIRROR (POWDER ROOM): THROUGH L'ART DE VIVRE. WALL COVERING (FOYER, STUDY): MAYA ROMANOFF. TABLE (DINING AREA): THROUGH TODD MERRILL ANTIQUES. RUG (LIVING AREA): THROUGH DARIUS DECORATIVE & ANTIQUE RUGS. LAMPS: THROUGH ALAN MOSS. CHAIRS (DINING, LIVING AREAS), CHAIRS, OTTOMAN (TV ROOM): THROUGH WRIGHT. CURTAIN FABRIC (DINING, LIVING AREAS, TV ROOM): LARSEN. CURTAIN TRIM: PIERRE FREY. CHAIR UPHOLSTERY (DINING AREA), OTTOMAN FABRIC (LIVING AREA), SIDE CHAIR UPHOLSTERY (TV ROOM): ASHBURY HIDES. COCKTAIL TABLE (LIVING AREA): THROUGH MODERNE GALLERY. SETTEE: THROUGH DONZELLA. SIDE TABLES (LIVING AREA), SCONCE (POWDER ROOM): THROUGH JOHN SALIBELLO ANTIQUES. TABLE (TV ROOM): THROUGH ROBERT ALTMAN. SOFA FABRIC: JOSEPH NOBLE. SOFA UPHOLSTERY: MOORE & GILES. CUSTOM CARPET (TV ROOM, BEDROOM): SACCO CARPET. STOOLS (KITCHEN): THROUGH SENTIMENTO ANTIQUES. PENDANT FIXTURES: THROUGH PIERRE ANTHONY ANTIQUES & INTERIORS. COUNTER MATERIAL: ABC STONE TRADING. CHAIR (FLEX ROOM): THROUGH LOBEL MODERN WALL COVERING (FLEX ROOM, VESTIBULE): INNOVATIONS IN WALLCOVERINGS. CABINET (TV ROOM): THROUGH RAGO ARTS + AUCTION CENTER. LAMPS: THROUGH SENZATEMPO. CURTAIN TRIM (BEDROOM): BRENTANO. CHAIR (BEDROOM), BENCH (BATHROOM): THROUGH C.J. PETERS. CONSOLE (VESTIBULE): THROUGH IRWIN FELD DESIGN. LAMPS: THROUGH MARK FRISMAN. TRIM MATERIAL (POWDER ROOM): DUPONT. SINK FITTINGS: LEFROY BROOKS. TOILET (POWDER ROOM), SINKS (BATHROOM): KOHLER CO. TILE (POWDER ROOM), FLOOR TILE (BATHROOM): ANN SACKS. CUSTOM CABINETS (STUDY): NEW DAY WOODWORK. SINK FITTINGS (BATHROOM): DORNBRACHT. SCONCES: URBAN ARCHAEOLOGY. PENDANT FIXTURE: THROUGH ANN-MORRIS ANTIQUES. WALL TILE: ARTISTIC TILE. CUSTOM WINDOW TREATMENTS, WALL UPHOLSTERING: INTERNATIONAL CUSTOM WINDOW TREATMENTS. GENERAL CONTRACTOR: 3-D LABORATORY.
