A Sherry-Netherland Apartment Reveals Intimate Views of Manhattan Architecture by Shope Reno Wharton/Interior Design by MAC II Text by Gerald Clarke/After Photography by Durston Saylor
Mica Ertegün, left, and project designer Mica Duffy, of MAC II, worked with architects Bernard Wharton, center, and Jerry Hupy, partners with Shope Reno Wharton, to renovate a New York City apartment for an investment banker, his wife and their two daughters.
Before
The living room.
After
A cased opening separates the living room from the dining room beyond. The paintings in the living room are by Tom Wesselmann, left, and Milton Avery. Sofa, Lee Calicchio.
Before
The living room.
After
An arched window in the living room looks down 59th Street. “Off to the side, you’re seeing all these views of the city,” Wharton says. “The apartment is very shiplike.” For Shope Reno Wharton, remodeling projects are rare. “We’re traditionally ground-up architects,” says Hupy. “Ninety-nine percent of our work is new construction.” Standing Ada (Double Sided) is by Alex Katz. Niall Smith 19th-century side table.
A circa 1800 Swedish chandelier defines the dining room.
“A kitchen of that size is not ordinary,” Hupy says of the 520-square-foot room. “For Manhattan spaces, it’s pretty dramatic.” As elsewhere in the residence, the ceiling beams help create a sense of scale and rhythm. Circa 1950 Lucite-and-chrome counter stools, Lobel Modern.
Before
The library.
After
In the pine-paneled library, the ebonized floors, which are used throughout the residence, reflect the light from the living room windows. “We felt the apartment should be open and loftlike,” ex-plains Duffy. For privacy, each of the major spaces can be closed off with pocket doors.
Paintings by Katz, Wayne Thiebaud and Tom Wesselmann, left to right, hang in the master bedroom. The chaise longue is covered in carpet Ertegün brought back from Morocco.
In the guest room, Duffy chose an Indian fabric with an elephant motif for the four-poster, “just for fun.”
Plans show the openness of the new configuration.
