Reinvented Tradition – Park Avenue

Glenn Gissler - Sharpe Nyack - New York State

A vibrant canvas by the late American abstract impressionist painter John Opper takes pride of place in the apartment’s gracious living room. Two deep-seated sofas are upholstered in lush blue velvet, with a pair of club chairs covered in a Zak & Fox textile and two Regency-style benches covered in paprika-hued velvet. The curtains were tailored from a Cowtan & Tout floral fabric.

Upper East Side – Park Avenue

Reinvented Tradition

This expansive Carnegie Hill apartment, just steps from The Guggenheim Museum and Central Park, is owned by a couple who have called it their home for nearly four decades. They raised their two children here and have entertained a multitude of friends and family over time.

With the children grown and having moved on to create their own lives, this couple was ready to redecorate the public and private rooms. With a penchant for traditional design and an interest in having their home feel fresh again, they contacted Glenn Gissler Design.

In our initial meetings, my clients shared their appreciation for jewel tones, which informed our palette, as set against warm and cool neutrals that serve as a backdrop. And while virtually all the furniture and furnishings–new, vintage, and antique–were fresh acquisitions for this apartment, we chose pieces that echo our clients’ taste for classical aesthetics.

When the installation was complete, one of my client’s longtime friends came to visit, offering her the ultimate compliment: “It’s beautiful, and while everything is different, I see YOU in all of it!” Glenn Gissler Design considers it a compliment, too.

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In the living room, a custom basketweave pattern area rug carpet in shades of sandstone grounds the space with a subtle rhythmic geometry. In the foreground, a ceramic vessel by Pablo Picasso rests atop a Paul Frankl table from the 1930s. The cheerful brick-colored glazed ceramic lamp, one of a pair, is mid-20th century from France.

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Across the entry gallery, we placed an Aesthetic Movement console table, replete with Wedgewood cameos ringing the apron. The gilded Neoclassical mirror was part of the homeowner’s collection. A pair of mahogany side chairs flank the console, resting atop a custom carpet with a stylized double–helix border. The pale blue ceiling balances the warm tones perfectly.

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On one side of the entry gallery, a pair of lyrical metal sconces recall the work of Alberto Giacometti, bathing the space in an amber glow. Hanging between them is a minimalist work on paper by Ellsworth Kelly. The bench is a custom piece Glenn Gissler Design created for the room; it is covered in a Studio Four fabric and is detailed with brass sabots capping the legs. A small ball-and-stick Aesthetic Movement table from the late 19th century completes the tableau.

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A handsome console table and a pair of vintage chairs greet guests in the apartment’s elevator vestibule. The framed vintage black and white photographs of life in New York City in the late 1940s are by Arthur Leipzig are from the client’s collection.

Divers, East River, 1948
Chalk Games, 1950
Stickball, 1950.
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The dining room walls, and adjacent seating area, are upholstered in a cabbage rose-patterned fabric from Cowtan & Tout; the walls absorb noise and provide perfect acoustics for lively conversations. The wall pattern informed the color choices for the cabinet insets and the upholstered dining chairs, which are backed in a Venetian-inspired textile from Le Gracieux. The Regency-style dining table, which we restored, expands to accommodate larger parties.

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The curious, almost Aztec-like face on Pablo Picasso’s “Visage dans un carré” plate, 1956,  peers into the dining room from the center of the built-in cabinetry.

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Across from the dining room is an informal seating area with gracefully tailored upholstered pieces covered in textured neutrals. A built-in desk at the far end provides space for writing notes or answering emails. Sheer Roman shades diffuse the afternoon light.

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A charming home office was fashioned off one corner of the blue bedroom, stylishly defined from the larger space by a portiere curtain. The striped Roman shade, desk chair, and window seat are all made from Cowtan & Tout fabrics.

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A shade of barely-there blue paint wraps the perimeter of this peaceful bedroom. The photo by Mary Ellen Bartley sets a calming aesthetic. The undulating chandelier provides overhead light, while a pair of crackle-glazed lamps perched atop a pair of mahogany nightstands, illuminate for pre-slumber reading. The decorative pillows are covered in textiles from Kravet.

Senior Designer Craig Strulovitz
Photos by Gross & Daley

Family Apartment – Upper East Side

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The 30-foot living room’s palette of creams, browns and silvery tones unifies the subtle mix of custom and 1940s furniture and contemporary art. A custom steel and limestone coffee table by Richard Shapiro vies with the gentler curves of the “Breck” sofa from Jonas Upholstery and the “Vermeer” end table from Nancy Corzine.

UPPER EAST SIDE – NYC

Family Apartment

Originally this eleven room apartment was two apartments in a building designed in 1923 by architect Mott B. Schmidt on Manhattan’s Upper East Side off Park Avenue. The co-op had several beautifully proportioned rooms and 110 feet of southern exposure. The clients, a family, sought a design for the interior that would be both livable and stylish.

The spare yet luxurious Neo-classicism of French 1940s design appealed to these collectors of contemporary art. They also had inherited a collection of American furniture and decorative arts. The designer’s brief was to achieve an airy, spacious aesthetic in the public rooms, while integrating the family’s earlier furniture and art into the cozier private space of the master bedroom.

In every space, works of fine and decorative art–mostly twentieth century– initiate us into the careful layering of eras and textures which characterizes the apartment as a whole. As well as French 1940s pieces, the residence features custom furniture of the highest quality. The meticulous detailing of architecture and fixtures throughout the apartment attains a high level of quality, materiality and finish. It is a home for art lovers, as comfortable as it is beautiful.

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The upholstered furniture is tailored but welcoming, covered in warm-hued fabrics—greens, beiges, and purples—that use texture or unassertive pattern to create additional visual interest. Tables, chairs, and case goods in solid dark-stained wood offer strong, graphic silhouettes. Walls are painted in warm and soothing, yet art-friendly shades of taupe.

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In the entry hall, gleaming dark wood floors contrast with a custom interpretation of a Gio Ponti rug of 1954, made originally in cowhide, now handmade by Martin Patrick Evan. Large photograph of a rough, peeling wall is by German artist Frank Thiel; the large work on paper at left is by Julian Schnabel. Glass and brass light fixtures are custom, from Daniel Berglund.

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In another corner of the living room, the furniture is assertively midcentury modern. The splendid, massive library table is 1940s French, of limed oak, complemented by Russell side chairs from Dessin Fournir, upholstered in olive leather. A strong sculptural note is architects Herzog & de Meuron’s solid birch “Hocker” stool, a contemporary classic which echoes the forms of African art.

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An Italian fruitwood cabinet, c. 1927, by Gio Ponti and Emilio Lancia is the setting for a Louise Bourgeois drawing presented on an easel. Elegant plain curtains in Holly Hunt’s “Colonial Pewter” fabric frame the tableau for these Modernist icons. Scandinavian ceramics complete the vignette.

"Over the years Glenn has worked with us on two projects - a sprawling Upper East Side Co-Op and a Soho penthouse loft. They could not have represented two more different challenges, but each could not have been more successful. Glenn has impeccable taste - he was both sensitive to our needs and aesthetic and to the integrity of the space in which he worked."

– Client

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Gilt-framed family portraits flank the entry of the Dining Room, with a view into the living room. The pear wood dining table is from Holly Hunt; the custom Russell side chairs are from Dessin Fournir.

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The superbly proportioned Library is enveloped in the warmth created by the soft browns, camels and ambers of the wools and leather used for upholstery, rug and curtains. There is hint of the safari lodge in the stylized tiger design of the custom wool carpet and the tropical hardwoods of the furniture. The brass chandelier, by Sarfatti, is Italian, from the 1950s.

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A collection of white-glazed Chinese pottery graces an antique secretary – a family heirloom. The custom wool and silk rug from Tai Ping, is woven to resemble a needlepoint pattern. The crisply pleated curtains are in “Palazzo Check” from Holly Hunt; the custom strie wallpaper is from Farrow & Ball. More family heirlooms, a Queen Anne chair and footstool, complete the space.

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The pair of generously proportioned custom “Briarcliff” armchairs by Jonas are upholstered in a lively stripe from Larsen Fabrics, flanking a three-tiered Art Deco side table in chocolate faux shagreen.

Senior Designer Craig Strulovitz
Photos by Gross & Daley