This New York City apartment is the combination of two penthouses on the top floor of a 1920s landmark building. Designed by Cross & Cross, when penthouses were the domain of staff rooms not glamourous lairs in sky, one unit served as the common laundry room and the other staff quarters. While each side had been converted into apartments the resulting layouts were confused and disjointed. By joining the apartments with a common architectural language and simplified circulation the resulting penthouse, with its wrap-around terraces, feels like a house overlooking the city.

Groin-vaulted hallways with enfilades of segmented arch doorways frame the formal wing of the residence from the front entry. Architectural details include paneling, crown moldings and casework. Bolection mantles surround working fireplaces in the living room and study. Even within the cozy proportions of the kitchen, storage space is maximized with concealed cabinets behind the curved walls of the corner vestibule.

PPA’s scope also included architectural conservation. The set back top floor of the pre-war building had weathered without remediation for decades, and the stucco exterior was cracking and crumbling around the entire perimeter. With Landmarks Preservation Commission approval, PPA fully restored the exterior façade, matching stucco tone and texture to the original material, as well as rebuilding the cooper-cased exterior bay window.