Leroy Street Studio Devises a Dramatic Manhattan Aerie Filled with Exceptional Works of Blue-Chip Art

When architect Marc Turkel made his first visit to a penthouse at One Central Park West on New York’s Columbus Circle, there was awe—and shock. Leroy Street Studio, the firm he cofounded, had been hired to reimagine the empty, gutted space on top of the former office tower as a gracious residence for a major art collector.

“The wraparound views are extraordinary, and there’s this really strong sense of the city,” Turkel says of the roughly 5,500-square-foot space, which has exposures facing Central Park, midtown Manhattan, and over the Hudson River to New Jersey. “It has soaring ceilings, up to 14 feet high, and it was completely raw, so it felt like you could turn it into anything.”

But the apartment was plagued by what Turkel describes as “an absolute dog’s breakfast” of awkwardly configured HVAC and mechanical systems that ran through it. Another challenge was creating a sense of homeyness with adequate wall space to display the owner’s extensive art collection, which ranges from African sculpture to contemporary works by Andy Warhol, Agnes Martin, William Kentridge, and George Condo—many of them impressive in scale.

Thanks to some adroit finessing of ductwork and other infrastructure, Turkel and his team were able to devise a layout with two bedrooms and spacious living areas, defined by a sense of openness with cross-axial views that extend all the way through the penthouse. “We had to find that sweet spot,” says Turkel, “where you’ve got these grand exhibition areas—it has a gallery-in-the-sky feel—but is also a warm and welcoming place you want to live in.”

To help achieve that effect, the architects made the unconventional decision to cover sections of the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living and family rooms with walls. The building’s glass façade—redesigned by architects Philip Johnson and Costas Kondylis when the tower was converted from offices in the 1990s—afforded panoramic views but left no surfaces along the apartment’s perimeter for hanging art. “Adding the walls actually improved the rooms remarkably,” says Turkel. “The view wasn’t compromised much, and it enabled us to bring into these expanses additional layers of art and decor.”

Exquisite design details add to the sense of refinement, notably the gray Bateig Azul limestone floors, inlaid in precision-cut geometric patterns. Inspired by ones in the Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan, the entrance area’s eye-catching doors are crafted in pewter-finished bronze and inset with emerald glass. Walls and ceilings are enhanced by plaster custom tinted by color maestro Donald Kaufman. “The ceilings have a completely different color than the walls, but both have approximately 12 different whites so they read closer in the space,” explains Turkel. “It’s all very bespoke and understated.”

When it came to selecting the art and furnishings, the owner relied on a trusted team of specialists, including Paul Renwick, an interior designer and textile artist, who had a hand in many aspects of the decor while overseeing the upholstery, curtains, and rugs. “The client was looking for really serious blue-chip furniture, and each piece has got a romance to it,” Renwick says.

For example, in the sprawling space that contains the living and dining areas, a pair of serpentine Vladimir Kagan sofas curl around a biomorphic-shaped table by Byung Hoon Choi, with a massive undulating Gino Sarfatti chandelier suspended above. Around the room’s edges, choice vintage Jean Royère cabinets, Pierre Paulin lounge chairs, and a dining table by César mix with exceptional artworks by Louise Bourgeois, Ellsworth Kelly, Gerhard Richter, and Donald Judd, whose stainless steel and green plexiglass stack sculpture climbs one of the newly inserted walls, framed by views of Manhattan’s West Side and New Jersey.

A similarly elevated array can be found in the family room, where one of Glenn Ligon’s arresting text paintings is mounted above an elegant Eugène Printz table, and a vivid, Cubist-inflected George Condo work overlooks a seating area that includes Ib Kofod-Larsen armchairs, tables by Pierre Chareau and Willy Rizzo, and lamps by Gino Sarfatti. “I don’t know that there’s a straight line running through, but it’s all very special things,” notes Renwick.

Entertaining friends and family is crucial for the client, who often hosts dinners. “There might be 40 people any day of the week, or there might be just two,” Turkel says. For smaller groups, the library is a favorite spot, lined on one side with a eucalyptus bookcase featuring parchment-front cabinets and shelves with a wunderkammer-like display of African sculpture and contemporary pieces by William Kentridge. Here, one can settle into a shearling-covered Jean Royère armchair or pile onto a KGBL sofa upholstered in purple cotton velvet. It’s one of the apartment’s boldest splashes of color.

Another beloved retreat is the client’s dressing room, a shimmering sanctum lined in silver leaf and sparsely furnished with a sculptural Zaha Hadid Liquid Glacial chair. Renwick says the room is a model for one in another renovation project for the client, now underway in London, also with Leroy Street Studio and the same interiors team.

In a similar spirit, the client’s serenely minimal bath is sheathed in a Statuary Lincoln marble selected for its single, continuous vein that resembles a hand-drawn line tracing across the wall and floor. “To get a clear, clean line like that,” says Turkel, “how stunning is that?”

Like so many gestures in this penthouse, it’s restrained and radiant all at once.

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2026 Spring Issue under the headline “Sky Dance.” Subscribe to the magazine.