Calvin Klein

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

In 1891, the historic East Hampton estate was built by acclaimed Grey Gardens architect Joseph Greenleaf Thorpe for the homeowner’s wife, Laura Brevoort Sedgwick. Following a near century and list of elite owners, Calvin Klein purchased the property from the son of Juan Trippe, the founder of Pan American World Airways. The real estate sale took place in 1987 with Klein’s second wife, Kelly Rector, where the formerly married couple spent $3.6 million to acquire the impressive property.

Following the first few years after purchase, the duo executed substantial renovations to the home and eventually had it featured in the 1992 edition of Vogue Decorations. While the celebrity couple officially divorced in 2006 and were reportedly separated for a decade prior, Rector continued to reside within the Hamptons home. Despite her stay nearly fifteen years following their split and her former initials “K. K.” plastered on the front gate, the deed was still in Klein’s name. This past week, the estate was sold in two off-market transactions to undisclosed buyers hidden behind an LLC. The sale consisted of the main property which sold for $75 million as well as the adjacent strip of undeveloped land for an additional $10 million.

The lavish Hamptons estate built in 1891 is situated on 8.4 acres of lush land and features a main mansion as well as a boathouse. Shortly after Klein and Rector purchased the residence over three decades ago, they summoned the help of renowned architect Thierry Despont to modernize the interior space. Spanning over 10,100 square feet, the primary house is a shingle-style mansion including five bedrooms and eight bathrooms. While information in regards to the home’s interior design is limited, Klein and Rector are infamously infatuated with sleek white interiors and perfectly executed construction projects. Some notable renovations to their former Hamptons estate consist of a swimming pool and boathouse on Georgica Pond pictured in the aforementioned 1992 issue of Vogue Decorations.

For more on the latest in luxury real estate, visit dev.hauteresidence.com.

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André Fu

Photo Credit: Stephen Kent Johnson

Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel with interior architecture by Thierry Despont, 53 West 53 features 145 residences ranging in size from one- to four-bedrooms, including full-floor homes and duplex penthouses with private elevators. The building’s tapering design and Nouvel’s signature exposed structural system, known as the diagrid, which means that the layout of each residence is completely unique.

“53 West 53 is an architectural masterpiece,” said David Penick, Managing Director at Hines. “We commissioned André Fu to design our first model residence because his modernist sensibilities complement Jean Nouvel’s completely unique architecture.”

Photo Credit: Stephen Kent Johnson

The residence features distinctive design elements that evoke an artful mindset.  Fu collaborated with French gallerist Emmanuel Perrotin to curate key artworks showcased throughout the home.

Photo Credit: Stephen Kent Johnson

New pieces from the Andre Fu Living collection, that recently debuted at Milan’s Furniture Fair, are featured extensively throughout the space. The collection is inspired by Fu’s childhood memories of memorable places and different cultures that informed Fu’s distinct aesthetic. The furniture pieces complement the residence’s unique architecture with a palette of stained grey oak and anodized bronze, highlighted with subtle accents of dusty burgundy and mineral blue.

Photo Credit: Stephen Kent Johnson

Walking into the home, visitors are greeted by a stunning, minimalist canvas artwork by renowned Korean artist Pak Seo Bo. It sits above a custom-made cast bronze console table set on limed oak flooring. The corner living room includes a bespoke sculptural curvilinear screen in high gloss piano lacquer that depicts the silhouette of the city’s skyline. It is set against a plush ivory sofa and the Interlock coffee tables from the AFL collection.

Photo Credit: Stephen Kent Johnson

The separate dining area includes a vast six-seater dining table and a handmade screen partition designed by Fu. The master bedroom suite showcases a palette of expressive mineral blue and icy grays. The secondary bedroom features a Bamboo Watercolor carpet, and an ottoman upholstered in mud salmon, accented with a palette of dusty burgundy. The space is finished with stunning bronze table lamps with glowing cast glass, as well as an array of modern century inspired objects.

Photo Credit: Stephen Kent Johnson

53 West 53 has the unique distinction of being integrated into MoMA’s architecturally distinguished urban campus. Three new gallery levels will be created within the base of the building, each accessed from and connected with the museum’s existing exhibition spaces. Residents will receive deeded memberships at MoMA, which include the potential for the building to host private events in the museum’s iconic Sculpture Garden.

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LEVEL

Courtesy of LEVEL

If you’re only looking to upgrade one element in a living space, New York interior designer Highlyann Krasnow, founder and creative director of The Design High, suggests updating your couch. “There’s nothing more impactful than a beautiful couch. Invest in a well-made sofa, accessorize with statement pillows, and build the room around it,” she said. This gorgeous velvet couch is the hero of this living space and is right on trend for this year. Krasnow and her team staged this living room at LEVEL, a luxury waterfront enclave in Williamsburg.

Summit New York

Courtesy of Summit New York

Renowned French furniture brand, Ligne Roset, creates a colorful and textural living room at the Summit New York in Midtown East. If you have a space that is unique in shape, see how Ligne Roset uses clever space planning and the right scale of furniture to make the area feel large and spacious. The greys and neutrals are accented with vivid jewel tones, and work in harmony with the skyline views. The added natural element also helps to liven the room and bring a little of the outside in.

12 East 63^rd Street

Photo credit: Will Ellis of Donna Dotan, courtesy The Corcoran Group

Do you have a large living room, but don’t want it to look cluttered? See this stunning interior design by Thierry W Despont LLD in an Upper East Side architectural masterpiece by Pierre Yves Rochon. The $67 Million listings, 12 East 63^rd Street, by Corcoran has a generous living space, which Despont utilizes to create a sophisticated, uncluttered room. The high ceiling allows for long rectangular shapes, filled with leather-bound books and mirrors. The round balcony overhead interrupts the rectangular shapes and gives way to curved furniture below. Again, velvet furnishing adds opulence and pop of color.

277 Fifth Avenue

Courtesy of 277 Fifth Avenue

If you have floor to ceiling windows that frame the Manhattan skyline, then this living room design is for you. Designed by renowned interior architect Jeffrey Beers, this unit in 277 Fifth Avenue, is an open-layout floorplan. Beers create flexible entertainments areas sectioning off the living room from the dining and kitchen area with a large rug. The solid walls are perfect for adding sizeable pieces of art for a pop of color and culture. The refined palette of natural materials including American white oak flooring evokes a warm and inviting atmosphere for residents and guests.

22 West 74^th Street

Photo credit: David Paler, courtesy The Corcoran Group

This luxurious Neo-Georgian limestone and brick mansion was originally designed by Percy Griffin in 1906 and includes a grand living room. The room's ceiling soars just under 13 feet, and Jacqueline Segura takes advantage of the height with a stunning wall piece that co-exists with a rig of a similar pattern. The powder blue and cream colors are soft and fresh, perfect for this season, and vintage elements are in this year. If you’re looking to add a touch of old world meets new, this living room on the Upper West Side is the perfect inspiration to draw from.

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Towering above the Museum of Modern Art, or MoMA, in Midtown Manhattan 53W53 stands like a beacon of high end living in the neighborhood. The condominium tower, designed by Thierry Despont and Jean Nouvel, stands at 1,050 feet and feature 145 residences in the space ranging from one to five bedrooms, including full floor homes and duplex penthouses with elevators.

The building’s latest renderings reveal the true art of the tower, a silver beam standing above the museum, tapering at the highest points into a thin blade in the sky. The design, from Pritzker Prize winner Jean Nouvel, is perfectly at home above the Museum of Modern Art, being a testament to modern architectural design and a beautiful addition to the midtown skyline.

Despont’s interiors are also beautifully in the designer’s character, with neutral tones, minimalist aesthetics, and a unique blend of material and spacing that feels both contemporary and cozy at once. In addition to the residences, the building also provides an indoor pool, wine cellar, and breathtaking views of Central Park from one of the best vantage points in town. For those looking for alternative views, the tower also features several full-floor residences offering views expanding in all directions.

Most of all though, the Museum of Modern Art below will have three additional gallery levels within the base of 53W53 on floors 2, 4, and 5. Residents will receive titles to a special benefactor W53 MoMA membership, that comes with several additional benefits and privileges at the museum as well as the potential to host private gatherings in the museums sculpture garden.

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There, in the airspace high above the Museum of Modern Art (the nation’s pre-eminent modern art museum), the view is spectacular. Which is why Nouvel's long-delayed high-rise is finally breaking ground—as the next Central Park area superstructure to scrape the sky. It will join the area's other megatowers (current and future): the One57 condominium (1,005 feet), 432 Park Avenue tower (1,396 feet), the Skinny Scraper at 111 W. 57th Street (1,421 feet), and the Nordstrom Tower (1,775 feet including a spire).

Revised renderings of the 1,050-foot tall midtown MoMa tower reveal spacious panoramic residences by renowned interior architect Thierry W. Despont inside of an elegant tapering tower, with intricately-woven diagonal columns zig-zagging down the sloping glass façade.

Architect Jean Nouvel's 1,050-foot MoMa tower is finally under construction above the Museum of Modern Art.

This unusual and extremely complex diagonal structural system—called a “diagrid”—makes a bold first impression, but required developer Hines to replicate the building in a Sunset Park, Brooklyn warehouse to examine the structural soundness of the skyscraper's slanted columns, tilted windows and tapered top floors. According to The New York Times, the test unit (nicknamed "a playground") is a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom mock version of the MoMa tower’s most challenging area—the 32nd floor.

The prototype’s staggering $500,000 to $1 million construction expense is still chump change compared to the cost of the $1 billion-plus-financed megatower and the ultra luxury condos within (which range from $3 million to $50 million).

Developer Hines, Nouvel, and Despont solved these design hiccups at considerable expense, which, naturally, is built into the condo prices. A special ventilation system was designed to compensate for 11-feet-high (and nearly six-feet-wide) windows that don’t open. Stained parquet floors were rejected in favor of wide oak planks floors with perpendicular borders which best complemented the varied window angles.

Panoramic view with diagonal columns zig-zagging across the 11-foot high windows.

The renderings offer a new glimpse of the MoMa tower's interiors. Units will come equipped with automatic window shades fitted with guide wires (like used on yachts) and calibrated to eliminate gaps at the base of angled windows, according to The Times. Ceiling lights designed to create a halo effect will grace MoMa tower’s kitchens and hallways. Meanwhile air-conditioning will be concealed behind detailed cornices. With challenges met, excavation has begun.

Interior architect Thierry Despont in the test lab, a.k.a. "the playground."

The MoMa tower, located between Fifth and Sixth avenues, is slated to be 82-unofficial stories (likely 72, officially) with 140-plus residential units (which reportedly include six penthouses and 30 additional staff quarters on select floors), totaling 442,000-square-feet of space.

According to Curbed, floorplans show the MoMa tower will offer 32 one-bedroom apartments, 51 two-bedrooms units, 47 three-bedroom units, nine four-bedroom units, and two five-bedroom residences on the 60th and 61st floors measuring more than 7,000 square feet.

Financing issues stalled the project several times. According to The Real Deal, Hines acquired 240,000-square feet of air rights last fall from the neighboring MoMa and St. Thomas Episcopal Church for a whopping $85.3 million to keep the project on track. Also in the deal, the museum acquired three more floors of gallery space (floors two through five) as part of its expansion.

When completed, the view outside the MoMa will be as modernly majestic as the art inside the museum.

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