No detail went unattended in the reinvention of an apartment that occupies an entire floor in the Sherry-Netherland, a storied Fifth Avenue high-rise in Manhattan. Exhibit A? The color of the curtains in the living room.
The apartment retains the glamorous spirit of the previous owner, Diana Ross, whose photo presides over the study. In the entry, the Directoire chest is from Lerebours Antiques; mirror, Mary McDonald for Chaddock; lamp, Christopher Spitzmiller.
Their bright, leafy green - a bold and unexpected choice for a space with walls lacquered a quiet ivory - is meant to meld with the hundreds of acres of trees below, thrillingly on view through the apartment's tall windows.
“It's so that nothing gets between you and that view of Central Park,” says interior designer Jeffrey Bilhuber, who was commissioned to rethink the space for a couple from Los Angeles, Steven and Stephanie Booth Shafran.
The study's sofa is custom. Sconces, Vaughan. Rug, Patterson Flynn Martin.
Such is the thought that Bilhuber put into every surface, knob, and nook of this 1920s apartment. Ditto the architect, Mark Ferguson of Ferguson & Shamamian Architects, whose work blends classical design and contemporary purpose.
The living room gleams with lacquered walls and mirrored insets. Custom sofa in a blue Cassaro fabric. Ottomans in a Brunschwig & Fils fabric. Brass cocktail and side tables, Michael Dawkins Home. Rug, Holland & Sherry. Pendant, Studio Van den Akker. Artwork, Caio Fonseca.
Bilhuber is a design scholar and author - his fifth book is in the works - with a client list, past and present, that would make for a dilly of a fantasy dinner party: Iman and David Bowie, Hubert de Givenchy, Elsa Peretti, Michael Douglas, hotelier Jeff Klein, and many more A-listers.
With the Shafran apartment, the challenge was heady: Design the perfect New York pied-à-terre overlooking Central Park for the jet-setting couple. “We asked him to create a special, intimate place,” says Steven, “where the two of us can really feel at home in the city.”
Green velvet walls insulate the dining room from the buzz of the city. English Regency table. Custom banquette in a Pierre Frey fabric. Custom dining chairs in a Keleen leather and a Peter Fasano fabric. Custom Roman shades in a Stroheim fabric.
Living and working in Manhattan, where he founded his eponymous firm in 1984, Bilhuber is innately aware of the elements and characteristics that go into the making of an urbane apartment. This one already had a good New York story: The Shafrans bought it from the legendary singer Diana Ross, its former owner.
“The idea that she lived here makes me so happy,” Stephanie says, “because hers was the first concert I ever attended, when I was 16 years old. I am a huge fan of her music.”
A bouquet of green hydrangeas adds a fresh note to a table set with the couple's gold-rimmed china.
Working in tandem, Ferguson and Bilhuber overhauled the layout of the apartment, relocating rooms while imbuing the space with the building's elegant architectural spirit. Which brings us to Exhibit B: Throughout the home, no wall was left untouched; rather, almost every single one was adorned with paneling, mirrors, or lacquer. (In some cases, all three.)
The master bedroom's bed is custom; linens, Julia B.; bedside chests, Bermingham & Co.
Exhibit C: A pair of monumental bronze-and-glass doors with 1920s panache was designed for the entry. For their home's decor, the Shafrans knew they wanted air and formality, but the couple diverged on the specifics.
Sconces, Remains Lighting. The master bath's sconces are by Waterworks.
“Stephanie likes a palette that is soft, refined, and beautifully nuanced,” Bilhuber says. “Steven wanted to energize that. His request was to incorporate pops of saturated color.”
To satisfy both the wife and the husband, the designer dialed up the flame on some of Stephanie's favorite hues, from plum to French blue. Meanwhile, the aforementioned green reappears in the dining room, where the walls are wrapped in an olive velvet.
An evening view from the apartment's living room windows.
No stuffy, boxed-in space, this: It opens to the capacious living room via large pocket doors, transforming the rooms into an expansively glamorous space that stretches from east to west - setting the stage for this thoroughly modern couple to take their own Manhattan.
This story was originally published in the January 2018 issue of Veranda.
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