Comprising the 36th and 37th floor of 515 Park Avenue, this duplex—owned by former model and Lady Sheila Stable founder Sheila Rosenblum—recently listed for $35 million. The apartment contains some brash, beautiful and heavy-handed design elements, as well as skylark views of Central Park.
The foyer of the property is striking, rendered in marble and onyx, and with an inset meandros in the center of the floor, as a comprehensive opening statement. The great room’s offset pattern marble and onyx tile floor and wainscoting, and burled walnut baseboard that extends to frame the portal to the staircase—with wrought-iron art nouveau balustrade—and the first floor.
The rest of the home’s 5,000 square feet manages to nearly keep up with the expectations set up in the first impression, which is fairly astonishing. Hardwood floors are inlaid in a dark parquet, with contrasting lines that artfully break the pattern, and keep the eye from settling down into apathy. A bedroom’s wardrobes, drawers and cabinets are inlaid in the deco style. The master bedroom trim, in off-white, quietly reprises the meandros motif established in the foyer. Only the dining room chances unforgivable chicanery: it’s a little too baroque in its sympathies, with its gilt leaf crown moldings, elaborate bronze sconces, and crystal chandelier.
The duplex fills out with an additional three en-suite baths, continuous double exposures from room to room, separate private, passenger and service elevators, library, and large living room fireplace. A second-floor guest apartment measures a little under 650 square feet, and contains a kitchenette and private bath.
