SHELTER BEST OF DESIGN, FEBRUARY 2007

Penthouse Redux

Suzanne Lovell returns one residence to its former 1920s splendor, only to turn around and bring it into the present

Text: Carol Tisch

Photography: Thomas Nowak

When Barry and Shauna Montgomery first looked at the site of their future home, they weren’t impressed. Only after the building’s agent pulled out the original architectural drawings from the 1920’s, which revealed that the space had been split into two apartments more than 20 years earlier, did they become intrigued with the possibilities presented.

In a short six months, the 19th floor apartments were reunited and the interior architecture restored to it’s former glory, albeit a new and improved version with room for modern-day touches. The penthouse the Montgomery’s call home today is a sophisticated composition that combines classic elements with contemporary overtones... where everything looks exactly in its place, but where the effect is anything but stilted.

Choreographer of the project was architect and interior designer Suzanne Lovell, who gracefully waltzed her way through a complete restoration based on its original renderings. The process was helped along by the fact that Lovell had worked with Barry and Shauna Montgomery before and, thus, was thoroughly acquainted with the client’s eclectic taste, which runs the full gamut from abstract 20th century contemporary art to animal skins and Swedish Empire. What’s more, the Montgomery’s own an extremely fine collection of antiques and objects, with which they would not part and which Lovell would need to weave effortlessly into her design.

From the gallery entrance hall, guests immediately get a hint of the sumptuous art and antiques that lie beyond. Here, Lovell, for dramatic effect, chose a black and white checkerboard for the wood floor, and then placed custom pieces, such as a Paris mirror, alongside the clients’ leather armchairs, griffin-form table lamps and two Motherwell paintings. “The minute you walk in the door, you know a family’s character,” the noted designer says. “I want my clients’ guests to know that an elegant person lives here.”

In the living room, a soft palette of black and white, with touches of yellowy olive green, provides a refined and neutral backdrop to the abstract Seymour Fogel painting above the mantel, visible from the adjacent formal dining room. Around a custom, sprawling dining table stand simple beige upholstered chairs in a setting that is elegant in its sparseness. It is in the library where the Montgomerys’ varied taste shines the brightest, and also where Lovell's skill as a proficient designer rings clear. Here, red walls serve as a foil to more informal gatherings. The chess and coffee tables, zebra rug, mirror above the fireplace and eight-panel screen all belonged to the Montgomerys before the project began. ON top of them, Lovell added her own effects: soft upholstery pieces for easy lounging, throw pillows and window treatments, in short.

With a cache of artisans, she designed the Montgomerys several one-of-a-kind items, including the Paris mirror in the gallery hallway, the dining table, the headboard in the master bedroom and Shauna Montgomery’s custom desk and chair. Area rugs in both the living and dining rooms were also designed by Lovell with Sam Kasten, a weaver with whom she has collaborated for about two decades.

Throughout the apartment, Lovell paid careful attention to textiles so as to add yet another level of complexity and bring to life the design. Exotic textiles make a strong show, with horsehair window seat covers from Clarence House in the dining and living rooms; buffalo hide for a swivel armchair in the library; and pillows in Kuba textiles to accent the soft upholstered pieces in the library. “The most interesting houses are layered with many levels of credibility,” Lovell says, who often turned to custom furnishings for the finishing touches. “We believe as a studio that if you’re willing to listen to the client, the interior gets more articulate, not necessarily fussy”