Spring House Tour

This spectacular penthouse at 285 Lafayette in SoHo boasts a double-height great room with breathtaking views of three bridges. Photo: VHT Studios

 

Few experiences better capture the essence of what it is like to live in some of Manhattan's grandest homes than spending time in them. That is the theory behind the success of the biannual New York Junior League House Tour, which had its 20th iteration on May 9.

The seven properties on this year's spring house tour - three on the fashionable Upper East Side, one in a tower on the Upper West Side, another a striking contemporary currently on sale in NoMad and the rest downtown - vividly illustrate the broad diversity of experience that living on the island can bring.

Those lucky enough to be a part of the V.I.P. tour were able to spend a few minutes at apartment 9E on 863 Park Avenue, and walk for a few minutes in the footsteps of its former owner, Fred Astaire, who lived and entertained there for 12 years in the 1950s and 60s. Built in 1908 with Beaux-Arts detailing, the neo-Classically styled structure once stood alone at the corner of East 77th Street as the first residential building on Park Avenue built above 57th Street. Most of Park Avenue's iconic prewar buildings were actually built much later, between the great wars, in the 1920s.

The "classic seven" apartment (three bedrooms and a maid's room) is now around 2,400 square feet, and features the building's only Juliet balcony, visible from the street and facing south. Besides the gracious 10-foot ceilings, the L-shaped space has a number of noteworthy improvements to its classic Parisian enfilade-style design, in which the doors entering each room are aligned with the doors of the connecting rooms along a single axis. Owner and interior designer Garrow Kedigian (garrowkedigian .com) took over the space in poor condition, and started by adding some new upholstery and a series of period moldings - there were none at all when he moved in - and building a shrine for his extensive collection of art, including his own work. What is most striking is the Montreal native's expert use of ultrahigh-gloss, lacquer-like paint. from Fine Paints of Europe, to make the doors and ceiling details shine. His bold use of color, including Midnight Charcoal Gray and Abyss, create a feeling of clubby sophistication and elegance that one might imagine Mr. Astaire would have enjoyed. The kitchen redesign, which cleverly hides the washer and dryer, includes an artfully designed banquette and coffered beamed ceiling, while the corridor bar adds just the right touch of 1950s midcentury modern glamour.

Diversity is the theme of owner Maria Luisa Mendoza's eclectic art collection housed in her sixth floor apartment at 168 East 74th Street. Mendoza is cofounder of Subject, an online/popup art gallery, and her eye for street art and Japanese prints by Brooklyn-born artists is prominently displayed on her Venetian plaster walls, and among the mélange of midcentury, antique and contemporary furniture. A unique mirror window cleverly covers up an undesirable view, an oversized painting by French expressionist Bernard Lorjou fits perfectly in the living room, while a lavender girls' room with extensive built in storage and another for boys, with black-and-white detailing, compete for attention. Also on display are photographs by Nigerian photographer Simon Norfolk, Venetian photojournalist Renato D'Agostin and Mark Shaw, best known as the unofficial photographer for the Kennedy family.

In her loft-like abode on the eighth floor at 330 East 72nd Street, interior designer and author Tracy Stern (TracyStern.com, tracysterntea.com) uses skateboards and black walls to make her statements, which include a wall of quotes about love handwritten in chalk on the wall above the bed in her master bedroom. A neon sign, with the slogan "Trust Yourself," offers even more advice. One bedroom for her teenage children evokes a French hotel, another a gentleman's lair. The home is filled with unique art and furniture, including an elegant cherry dining room table and a custom gold crocodile-embossed Louis IX settee.

This spring's Upper West Side entry, at 45 West 67th Street, is the home of interior designer Anjali Pollack, who purchased the apartment~ once owned by Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates, in 2004. Pollack gutted the apartment then, and more recently finished yet another renovation, all taking advantage of the 27th-floor light and views. She used faux architectural details in the ceilings to create a calm, more expansive feeling, and used different metals and fabrics to create drama and glamour in a family setting - which also includes her design office.

The recently completed NoMad boutique residence tower at 241 Fifth Avenue, between 27th and 28th Streets, contains its own restaurant and hotel scene below, in one of the first new condominiums in the district in many years. The 46 apartments above include a sleek, modern contemporary open-floor-plan apartment on the second floor owned by decor expert, blogger and party stylist Amanda Gluck (FashionableHostess.com) with her husband Daniel and their two young children, who have put the apartment up for sale as the family prepares to relocate outside the city. The wire-brushed white oak walls and a polished concrete floor set a tranquil mood in the lobby on the way to the building's many amenities, which include a rooftop terrace; a fitness center equipped with state-of-the-art cardio and weightlifting equipment; a Zen tranquility room for yoga, Pilates or meditation; a residents' lounge; and a private wellness treatment room. Gluck's three-bedroom/ three-bathroom 1,787-square-foot apartment on the second floor, designed by ODA Architecture, is remarkably serene, thanks to new soundproof floor-to-ceiling glass windows, the Danish-inspired reverse-painted glass cabinetry in the kitchen, and neutral, reflective surfaces throughout.

The two downtown apartments could not be more different. The Jasper Ward House, at 45 Peck Slip, was built in 1809 on a ferry slip that was once completely underwater. When the shoreline was extended, a five-floor counting house was built to help manage the growing import/export businesses along the East River. Builder/artist/designer Randy Polumbo (polumbo.com, plantnyc.net), the current owner, managed to retain control of the property after a ConEd power plant was built next door in the 1970s, adding an ingenious network of metal plating along the walls to shield the property from electromagnetic fallout. The rest of the five-floor property - with exposed wood beams, dark natural flooring, barn doors on cast-iron rollers and an old ladder staircase to a cozy crow's nest master bedroom on the top floor - is filled with objects and gadgets unearthed by Polumbo's construction company. Polumbo also repurposes once-forgotten pieces salvaged from classic properties such as The Pierre and Sherry-Netherland hotels, as well as some industrial castoffs brought back to life from across the city.

The centerpiece of the spectacular penthouse at 285 Lafayette in SoHo is the double-height great

 

 

room, and its modern take on a classic winding staircase to the private master suite. The terrace in the bedroom has especially breathtaking views of three bridges (Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn) - but the highlight is the stunning spa bathroom, which includes its own private terrace and water feature en plein air. There are five terraces in all. The condo conversion in 2000 contains a number of other surprises, including a hidden door to a staircase, and, of course, myriad windows. The penthouse is currently on the market for $12,995,000.

"I was really struck by the diversity of the offerings this year - some were sleek, some were classic, some were eclectic and others were historic," said Stacey Lawrence Lee, president of the New York Junior League. "We have developed a great reputation over the years for showcasing some uniquely wonderful spaces in New York, and for being invited into some of the most luxurious homes in the city. A lot of prestigious homeowners will not ordinarily open up their homes to a house tour, but are more inclined to do it if it helps The New York Junior League. We have many volunteers who have a network of colleagues, friends and relatives with beautiful properties, and word of mouth spreads quickly."

All the funds raised on the tour support N.Y.J.L.'s many charitable activities. The original mission of what was then known as The Junior League for the Promotion of Settlement Movement, founded in 1901 by Mary Harriman, daughter of a railroad baron and sister of William Averell Harriman, future governor of New York, was to help improve conditions for immigrants in the Lower East Side.

Today, more than 2,600 N.Y.J.L. volunteers donate more than 250,000 hours of service every year. "There are so many nonprofit organizations in the city that rely on the N.Y.J.L. to provide trained volunteers, from Good Shepherd to Covenant House to the Women's Prison Association to the New York City Parks Department," she said. "People call on the N.Y.J.L. because they know we provide quality, trained volunteers who are both reliable and devoted to helping our neighbor New Yorkers. If the homeless shelters want help teaching kids about healthy eating, we have a group that will do that. We have a financial literacy modular program, where teens coming out of foster care can learn about financial issues. We help the prison association teach women how to make the transition out of prison. Our list of community partners has grown exponentially over the years."

For more information about the New York Junior League, visit NY JL.org.