Houzz Tour: Secrets, Light and Rock ’n’ Roll in Manhattan
Two duplex apartments merge into one spacious family home in a storied building on New York’s Upper West Side
On the Upper West Side of Manhattan, architect Ben Herzog recently completed an extensive renovation that transformed two dark duplex apartments into a single light-filled home for a family of four. The project took place in one of the city’s most storied buildings: the Pythian Temple, a nine-story structure embellished with glazed terra-cotta tiles and Egyptian motifs. Its interior was converted into condos in the 1980s. But if walls could talk, they’d probably dish about the Knights of Pythias, the secretive fraternal society that built the structure in 1927, and about Bill Haley and His Comets, who recorded “Rock Around the Clock” there in 1954.
In a sense, the Pythian did talk to Herzog during the recent renovation. Its enormous, concrete-encased trusses dictated the layout of the new apartment loud and clear. Fortunately, the challenges they posed prompted creative solutions from Herzog and his team. The result is a modern, livable home with a dramatic staircase and a colorful past, plus rooms that hold a few secrets of their own.
In a sense, the Pythian did talk to Herzog during the recent renovation. Its enormous, concrete-encased trusses dictated the layout of the new apartment loud and clear. Fortunately, the challenges they posed prompted creative solutions from Herzog and his team. The result is a modern, livable home with a dramatic staircase and a colorful past, plus rooms that hold a few secrets of their own.
Before: One of the original two kitchens had basic finishes and an awkward floor plan. “It was one of those dead-end kitchens, with no way out,” Herzog says.
After: The new, expanded kitchen has much-improved flow thanks to a central island. Conti selected custom inset cabinetry and honed Opus White quartzite for the countertops. Wood shelving, aged brass pulls and a geometric blue-and-white runner add warmth to the all-white color scheme, while the grates under the window artfully conceal a heating system.
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Leather-and-steel stools sit under a wooden counter next to the kitchen. To expand the kitchen’s footprint, Herzog and team wanted to move the range, but they were stymied by the building’s fixed gas lines. So they created three black vertical columns between the kitchen and dining room, part of which you can spy here. One column conceals the gas line, and the others house electrical conduit for LED lighting.
The flooring here and throughout the home is rift-and-quartered Madera engineered white oak in a natural finish.
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The flooring here and throughout the home is rift-and-quartered Madera engineered white oak in a natural finish.
Shop for bar and counter stools on Houzz
Behind a two-bowl farmhouse-style sink and stainless steel faucet is a shiny white backsplash of handmade tiles, each of which looks like the letter H and interlocks to create a modern geometric pattern. Above hangs a hand-finished semiflush pendant lamp (from South Carolina studio Worley’s Lighting) that has a subtly midcentury-modern-inspired look.
The clients’ taste was fairly traditional to start, Herzog says, but evolved as the project unfolded. “We guided them in more of a modern direction, which I think is more appropriate for the building,” he says.
The clients’ taste was fairly traditional to start, Herzog says, but evolved as the project unfolded. “We guided them in more of a modern direction, which I think is more appropriate for the building,” he says.
A bar under the catwalk features a beautiful hand-painted watercolor wallpaper by The Pattern Collective. Wine and wine glass storage occupies the left side of the cabinetry, and a coffee station with a built-in espresso machine is on the right.
Another striking wallpaper — this one from Cole & Son’s Fornasetti Senza Tempo collection — covers the walls in the downstairs powder room, and honed Calacatta Gold marble tops its burnt orange vanity. Brass starburst-shaped cabinet pulls coordinate with brushed gold fixtures and a sunburst mirror flanked by translucent alabaster pendants.
Vanity paint: Jupiter Glow, Benjamin Moore
Vanity paint: Jupiter Glow, Benjamin Moore
The main-floor primary bedroom has a bed with a curved velvet headboard and fun tassel- and pom-pom-trimmed linens. A Moroccan-style rug, midcentury-modern-inspired bedside table and handmade pendant lamp complete the slightly bohemian look.
The primary bathroom’s countertop and backsplash are honed Carrara marble, which contrasts with the black-painted vanity and polished chrome fixtures, pulls and sconces. This room was formerly the kitchen of one of the two original duplex apartments.
Vanity paint: Black Panther, Benjamin Moore
Vanity paint: Black Panther, Benjamin Moore
Between the double vanity and a toilet nook (not pictured) is a marble-topped dressing table, whose round mirror is reflected in one of the vanity mirrors in the previous photo. The table’s pink paint and a fluffy stool soften the bathroom’s black-and-white palette.
Wall paneling paint: Sterling, Benjamin Moore
Wall paneling paint: Sterling, Benjamin Moore
The bathroom’s main floor is covered in 12-by-12-inch Carrara field tiles heated by an electric mat. Inside the steel-and-glass enclosed wet area, which was previously a full bath, the floor is a classic honeycomb tile and the walls are covered in glossy white subway tile.
“All of the shower fixtures that you can see in this photo are [on a] wall full of pipes, so that really determined the layout of this bathroom,” says Sarah Rhoads, who managed the project.
They intentionally kept the bathroom relatively open to maintain ADA accessibility, Rhoads says.
“All of the shower fixtures that you can see in this photo are [on a] wall full of pipes, so that really determined the layout of this bathroom,” says Sarah Rhoads, who managed the project.
They intentionally kept the bathroom relatively open to maintain ADA accessibility, Rhoads says.
All is not what it seems in the primary closet, which opens to both the bathroom and the bedroom. If you look really closely at the bottom of the back wall, beneath the basket-filled shelves, you might see a small gap and a hinge. “It’s a secret door,” Herzog says. “The whole thing opens, and there’s a little vestibule behind it that they’re using for storage. It also maintains the old front door of one of the apartments.”
A handsome office with a walnut-topped built-in desk, aged brass pulls and midcentury-modern-style accents occupies the same corner of the first floor as the primary bath and bedroom. Can you see what’s lurking behind the grate cabinet fronts?
Paneling and desk paint: Deep Royal, Benjamin Moore
Paneling and desk paint: Deep Royal, Benjamin Moore
Before: They’re enormous concrete-encased trusses running between the primary bathroom and office, exposed here during construction. The trusses were impossible to move and a challenge to integrate into the design.
After: Here’s the same view, with the trusses now disguised behind a central staircase and catwalk. The white oak, glass and exposed structural steel tie the whole apartment together, literally and visually.
To the left of the stairs is the office; the apartment’s front door is to the right.
To the left of the stairs is the office; the apartment’s front door is to the right.
Cabinets with integral handles are built in and around the stairway. “He didn’t want to give up an inch of this place,” Herzog says of the husband. “Wherever there is not structure, there is storage.” The closet door seen here on the right opens not by swinging open, but rather by pulling straight out, ingeniously revealing a bar for hanging storage.
During the design process, the team discovered a large, low beam where the wall between the two apartments once stood. The beam forced them to build a stair landing several steps below the catwalk. “We solved it with this little reading niche, which I think is my favorite spot in the apartment,” Herzog says.
The thin vertical steel rods extending from the catwalk to the ceiling support the structure. “We basically hung it from the existing beams above to make it work,” Herzog says.
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The thin vertical steel rods extending from the catwalk to the ceiling support the structure. “We basically hung it from the existing beams above to make it work,” Herzog says.
Shop for throw pillows on Houzz
A space-efficient boy’s bedroom with a built-in headboard and wall-mounted reading lights is in the mezzanine level’s east wing, above the primary suite.
Headboard paint: Raccoon Fur, Benjamin Moore
Headboard paint: Raccoon Fur, Benjamin Moore
Before: The upstairs bathroom in that wing used to be dark and dated.
After: The new bathroom retains the original’s floor plan but is now bright and stylish, largely thanks to the honed Carrara marble countertop, new industrial-style lighting and inexpensive white tile covering the walls and front of the jetted tub. “It’s just $3 a square foot, but just using lots of different shapes of the tiles makes it really, really smart,” Rhoads says. The vanity is reclaimed pine.
A walk-in closet next to the bathroom transformed into this peppy laundry room with durable white engineered stone countertops, a deep sink and a wall-mounted drying rack. “Those machines just made it past the truss!” Herzog says with a chuckle.
Cabinet paint: True Green by Benjamin Moore
Cabinet paint: True Green by Benjamin Moore
There’s a second bedroom, bathroom and closet suite at the upper level of the west wing. Used by the couple’s young daughter, the rooms have a sweet (but not saccharine) pink color scheme. The bedroom’s whimsical celestial wallpaper is by Cole & Son.
Before: The accompanying bathroom had Hollywood-style lighting but few other noteworthy features.
After: Thanks to a makeover, the bath is now a star. As with the other upstairs bathroom, its layout remained the same, but it now boasts brass hardware, polka-dot hexagonal floor tiles, salmon pink vertically stacked subway tiles to chair rail height and small-format hexagonal tiles above. A matching Carrara-topped vanity, tub deck and niche lining lend a touch of urban sophistication to the room.
Before: The floor plan for the main level of the original two apartments shows how each functioned as a self-contained unit.
After: The main level’s new floor plan reveals the extent of the renovation and how the rooms now flow together.
Before: The floor plan of the original apartments’ mezzanine level reveals how each apartment was configured with stairs to a lofted bedroom.
After: The new mezzanine floor plan shows how lofted private spaces now surround an open, double-height space, with one set of stairs between the two levels.
Structural engineer: D’Huy Engineering
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Structural engineer: D’Huy Engineering
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House at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and their young son and daughter
Location: Upper West Side of Manhattan
Size: 2,500 square feet (232 square meters); three bedrooms, 3½ bathrooms
Designers: Ben Herzog (architect), Julia Conti (interior designer) and Sarah Rhoads (project manager) of Ben Herzog Architect
Builder: Interboro Design Group
After living in one two-story duplex apartment in the Pythian for a while, the family bought the smaller duplex apartment next door. The homeowners had a vision for what they wanted but knew it wouldn’t be easy to achieve.
“He had done some tinkering around inside and really knew the weirdness of the structure,” Herzog says of the husband. “He wanted more light-filled space for their family and, in some logical way, to combine these two pretty crazy apartments.”
Herzog and his team specialize in townhouse and apartment renovations in Brooklyn and Manhattan, so they were up to the task. Their idea was to create a double-height dining, bar, living and kitchen space (seen here), then arrange the private spaces around it. To connect the main and mezzanine levels, they designed a central staircase and a hanging catwalk (more on that engineering feat later).
The lofted bedrooms have steel interior windows facing the open-plan area, which interior designer Julia Conti outfitted with a white oak dining table, black spindle-back chairs and a dramatic Lambert & Fils chandelier.
Wall paint: White Dove, Benjamin Moore; trim and door paint: Chantilly Lace, Benjamin Moore
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