Lee Ledbetter Conjures a Storied Apartment Inside New York’s Famed Landmark The Carlyle

For one well-traveled Tennessee couple, The Carlyle was the only place to stay in Manhattan. And several years ago, when they decided it was time for a pied-à-terre in the city, they made it home. But before buying a 2,500-square-foot apartment on the 19th floor, they consulted New Orleans architect and designer Lee Ledbetter, a longtime friend who has overseen multiple projects for them and their adult children.

Out of a sense of obligation to do “proper due diligence,” as he puts it, Ledbetter first took the couple to see apartments in other luxury buildings around New York, including recently completed towers with the latest amenities. Afterward, the husband thanked Ledbetter and told him, “If we were in one of those buildings, even with 12-foot ceilings and the most extraordinary gym and all that, we would just wish we were at The Carlyle.”

Not that The Carlyle is without any drawbacks, notably its modest ceiling height, which is just eight and a half feet. And this apartment, completely gutted to a concrete shell by the previous owner, took some creative imagining to see its full potential. While blessed with an exceptional amount of outdoor space and glorious views, the largest of those terraces, stretching 80 feet across and facing Central Park, had been enclosed decades earlier in a dated aluminum conservatory structure Ledbetter describes as “a shroud obscuring their view.”

After jumping through numerous hoops with the Landmarks Preservation Commission and The Carlyle’s co-op board, they got approval to remove the old structure and install new, smaller conservatories, with more architecturally appropriate black-steel mullions, at both ends, while leaving a 45-foot-long central section as open terrace. Those alterations not only created a majestic outdoor spot with panoramic vistas but also allowed natural light to flood the living and dining spaces.

To enhance the effect, Ledbetter and his team finished the ceilings and walls in glossy white, while installing accents of mirror and glittering metallics that complement the refined mix of vintage and custom furnishings, predominantly Art Deco (or Deco in spirit). “I felt it was important to make this apartment feel like a descendant of the original building,” says Ledbetter.

Throughout, bespoke walnut millwork features inlaid brass details. Custom rugs drew inspiration from Deco-era examples, including the hallway runner patterned after an Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann design and the living and dining area carpets that echo ones Jean-Michel Frank had made for Nelson Rockefeller’s Fifth Avenue residence in 1938—only here, the florals in the pattern are native Tennessee irises and tulip poplar blossoms. “I wanted this to feel more urbane, a bit more formal and elegant, and a little more modern than the clients’ other residences,” Ledbetter says. “But I also wanted to make New York feel like home.”

Avid collectors of American Impressionist and other late 19th- and early 20th-century works, the couple took the opportunity to acquire a number of New York scenes. Highlights include the cityscapes by Guy C. Wiggins and Paul Cornoyer that grace the living room. The largest work of art and the apartment’s most theatrical element is in the dining room, where Ledbetter designed a recessed bar that can be concealed behind a wall of shimmering folding panels as the occasion dictates. Ledbetter commissioned artist and fashion illustrator Richard Haines to create sketches of Central Park that pay playful homage to Bemelmans’s murals downstairs and then had them blown up and rendered in silvery verre églomisé by decorative painter Vesna Bricelj. “It’s almost evocative of a Japanese screen,” Ledbetter says.

The kitchen, rigorously planned to maximize storage and light, is defined by elegant curves and exquisite detailing. Tucked into the back is a jewellike nook, where a shapely banquette and sumptuous paneling curl around a custom bistro table with a sculptural Venetian Art Deco pendant above. It’s an equally cozy spot for coffee or cocktails. “I thought there needed to be, like a moth to a flame, something that glows at the end of the space and pulls you in,” says Ledbetter.

The three bedrooms are all outfitted with custom beds and enlivened with works of art, not least the luminous harbor scene by Frederick J. Mulhaupt over the couple’s bed. The sun-splashed conservatory off their primary suite serves as the wife’s dressing area, while the one off the bedroom opposite is a favorite hangout for the couple’s visiting friends and children. Perching on the space’s vintage Jacques Adnet–style settee gives the feeling of floating above the city.

Ledbetter notes that the experience is arguably best at dusk, when city lights come up and the sky turns indigo. “You get a lot of reflection, and it’s kind of dizzying,” he says. “In a really amazing way.”

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2024 Winter Issue under the headline “High Fidelity.” Subscribe to the magazine.