When the Gimbels department store chain closed in 1986, many of its selling floors were converted into luxury apartments, including those of this branch at 86th Street and Lexington Avenue. The retailer’s soaring ceilings allowed Axis Mundi to create bedroom mezzanine spaces overlooking the living and dining rooms. Defining them with translucent glass welcomed natural light while retaining privacy. Downstairs, spaces bleed one into another, their basic monochromatic black-and-white palette acting as a unifying leitmotif. Yet each space feels distinct, with its own programmatic purpose, a feat largely achieved by varying floor and wall treatments—a graphic tile pattern in the entry, a red wall in the hall leading to the master suite, a colorful area rug in the living room. In the retailer’s heyday, the then-common saying, “Would Macy’s tell Gimbels?” implied the strategies the competitors kept from each other to gain the upper hand. Here, a structure iconic in its day also conceals something: a handsome, wholly contemporary repurposing that represents just the sort of innovation that made Gimbels the celebrated name that it was. Project Team: John Beckmann, Nick Messerlian and Richard Rosenbloom Kitchen by Minimal USA Photography: Federica Carlet © Axis Mundi Design LLC

This project won in the 2013 Builders Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh Housing Excellence Award for Best Urban Renewal Renovation Project. The glass bowl was made in the glass studio owned by the owner which is adjacent to the residence. The mirror is a repurposed window. The door is repurposed from a boarding house. George Mendel

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Adrienne DeRosa © 2014 Houzz Inc. While the formal dining room takes on a different feeling than the living space, it maintains the same sense of curated detail. Jennifer goes on to explain, "When I decorate my home I don't feel I have a style. I believe what ever you put in your home is what you should love, and that way it creates its own style ... I've been collecting for so long that a lot of my treasures have come together because I love them and eventually it will all make sense. I don't like one 'way'; that's why all my rooms are different." The dining table was found in an old flower shop. Originally it was a worktable with very tall legs, so Raymond and Jennifer cut them down to modify it for its current use. The chairs received Jennifer's creative touch as well. Purchased at a garage sale for $1 each, they are originally from an ice cream parlor in the basement of the historical Higbee's Company department store. Once she got them home, Jennifer reupholstered them with a cow-hide rug that she was no longer using. Wall color: Modern Grey, Super Paint by Sherwin Williams Photo: Adrienne DeRosa © 2014 Houzz