Rockefeller Garden Apartment Duplex

New York, NY

Retooling a Modern landmark in the heart of New York City

Sensitivity and an eye for possibilities is required when renovating a landmark such as mid-century architect Wallace K. Harrison’s 1936 apartment building, which the New York Times called “the first real high-end architectural statement in Manhattan during the Depression.” In this duplex, because many of the prized original details had been stripped away during a 1960s conversion to a dental office, the goal was to update the layout, lighting, and finishes to suit a contemporary lifestyle, but in the spirit of the original. We turned the public areas into a loftlike great room, merged with a once-cramped kitchen that was used only by day help when the building was designed.

Key details

• Accommodated the apartment's secondary use as a therapist's office
• Replaced the stair with a sensual new semi-spiral consonant with the building's character
• Revived a powder room that had been removed to make way for the dentist's reception area
• Inserted central air-conditioning without lowering the ceilings

Fact Sheet (116 KB PDF)