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150E58 MagazineBy Nicole HaddadApril 22, 2020
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Manhattan boasts some of the world’s most luxurious real estate—the market is saturated with penthouses, duplexes, and single-family brownstones. But rarely does a space produce the same jaw-dropping reaction as this 5,444-square-foot-home in the heart of the Meatpacking District. The project took shape when Jessica Campbell, a Senior Vice President at Nest Seekers, had a client who owned a pied-à-terre on the sixth floor. Over time and as units became available, Campbell suggested they buy the two adjacent apartments and combine the three into one spectacular full-floor residence. The clients wisely agreed and that was the start of a beautifully layered home that boasts five bedrooms and six-and-a-half baths. To complete the project, they enlisted the help of interior designer Paris Forino and architect Eric Sheffield, who created the elegant interior spaces.
Tasked by the client to form the design team, Campbell hit the search button for New York’s design A-list. “I researched all of the top interior designers in New York City—Paris was high on the list,” says Campbell. “Her aesthetic spoke to me immediately as I envisioned the residence at 66 Ninth Avenue to have a very ‘Park Avenue classic’ appeal, yet with a subtle modern twist. The goal was to keep it from looking outdated as many hyper-contemporary new developments tend to do after a couple of years.” Once Forino came on board, she suggested architect Eric Sheffield whom she had worked with previously. The duo immediately began to work on the floor plan —creating a home with a cohesive sense of movement that takes advantage of the views lining almost every room, from every angle. “The challenge when combining apartments is the layout—you want to make it feel and flow like it was always meant to be this way,” says Sheffield. “This home now has a wonderful flow to it, you can walk all the way around in a circle so you don’t have to go through the same room twice.”
As visitors enter the space, they are confronted with a striking, gallery-like hallway to the right of the entrance vestibule that leads to all of the private spaces. To the left, the space opens up to an expansive open-plan living and dining area (great room) that connects to a seriously swanky kitchen. In the living area, Forino and Sheffield highlighted the history of the building—keeping the beautiful beamed ceilings and outfitting the fluted columns in a hand-finished bleached walnut with hand-burnished unlacquered brass corners. For the floors in the great room, Forino applied an overscale herringbone pattern with brass inlay details—a unifying element throughout the home. Plush textiles, custom plaster walls and moldings, tone-on-tone layers peppered with pops of patterns, unique stones, textures, and furnishings, and deep dramatic colors highlighted by brass accents adorn the home as a whole. “Paris is spectacular,” says Sheffield. “She has such great ideas, fun twists and turns on classic elements—and an amazing sense of how to put things together. We’ve worked with her several times and always find her and her team exceptional to work with— they always bring in different textures and materials.”
Case in point: a 100-foot-wide expanse lined with windows not only leaves the great room awash in sunlight, but leads to two visually and functionally stunning rooms—the kitchen and the den. The kitchen’s custom cabinetry steals the limelight —the beautifully tailored design is finished in a custom satin lacquer over Farrow & Ball’s breathtaking Hague Blue. The flawless look includes custom brass hardware accents and cabinets trimmed in hand-burnished unlacquered brass set against dazzling, solid slabs of bold-veined Calacatta marble. A tailor-made brass breakfast bar and a luxe solid bronze farmhouse sink weighing hundreds of pounds equal perfection. In the den—which is equally sublime—walls plastered in a dramatic midnight blue create a serious “wow” moment. A sectional upholstered in a teal velvet from Geiger Textiles only enhances the allure. Oak flooring with a gorgeous brass inlay that mimics the shape of the concentric plaster ceiling, creates another “elegant with an edge” moment. As Forino explains, “The apartment was designed to have a modern, downtown feel with an incredibly high level of uptown refinement and polish.”
The bedrooms and baths throughout the home are also unique —each features the same incredible attention to detail with spa-like aesthetics. In the master bedroom,
a serene palette informs the space. Nearby, Forino created beautifully designed his and her bathrooms and walk-in closets—catering to masculine and feminine natures respectively. A graphic Kelly Wearstler wallpaper with a hand-painted charm defines another bedroom.
The residence defies categorization, and redefines the idea of luxury. “We wanted to create something spectacular and fantastic, where no detail was spared,” says Forino. “And that sentiment was echoed by the clients—they didn’t want us to hold back.” With every corner of the home layered in painstaking craftsmanship, custom finishings, hardware, and supremely beautiful furnishings—it’s a livable work of art.
