Inside the Handsome New York Apartment That Fuels Clive Lonstein’s Design Process
Set atop a storied prewar building in Chelsea, the architect-designer’s sunlit one-bedroom doubles as a stylish testing ground for ideas in art and interiors
Clive Lonstein was intrigued by the stepped-back architecture of his apartment building’s upper floors. “It turns into a wedding cake,” he marvels about the classic prewar structure housing his sunlit residence in Chelsea, New York, a 17th-floor aerie sporting an unusual L-shaped layout, a generous wraparound terrace, and dual exposures. These perks drew the South Africa–born designer in immediately, offering the rare mix of charming architectural quirks, natural light, and ample space for entertaining that he craves in a city apartment.
Since moving in, Lonstein—a Harvard-trained architect with a sharp sensibility for proportion and material—has transformed the one-bedroom apartment into a living laboratory. To wit: His newly launched cast glass tables for StudioTwentySeven were conceived from the spatial challenge of anchoring asymmetrical seating around his fireplace. “I thought it’d be great having a coffee table with a dynamic sensibility to negotiate the geometry,” he says. As the popularity of curvilinear tables started to feel overplayed, Lonstein devised a dazzling collection of angular, offset glass forms emblematic of his longtime ethos of alchemizing beauty and utility into quietly rigorous, materially driven interiors.
That philosophy is palpable at every point inside. In the living area, a creamy leather sofa faces a shearling two-seater atop a silk Beauvais Carpets rug. Rough-hewn ceramic lamps by Galerie Creative Mind Peter Lane assert sculptural élan on a metal side table fashioned by J.M. Szymanski, echoing a ceramic sculpture by Ranti Bam and an obsidian volcanic glass tabletop objet by Celine Cannon perched on the dining room table. “There isn’t a duplicate of anything, but it also still feels very restrained and minimal,” Lonstein explains. “Each piece is given room to breathe because of what it contrasts against.”
Though modest in scale, his growing art collection anchors each space. Rather than simply placing art afterward, he meticulously conceives each room around favored pieces. “The space is incomplete without art,” Lonstein says. “Even if there’s a lot happening, I like to curate art in a way that each piece can stand alone.” He often enlists the expertise of veteran art adviser Barbara Berger, who helps him strike balance across media and scale. A black-and-white photograph by Thomas Demand hangs above the fireplace, neighboring an Analia Saban circuitboard; subtle monochromes by Amanda Williams sit between the dining area’s striped linen and silk drapery in a fabric by Perrine Rousseau. “Every decision has to be very methodical,” he says. “There’s no room for excess.”
Lonstein gravitates toward abstraction and what he calls “surface disruption.” A gestural Cheyney Thompson canvas speaks to his affinity for the lush brushstrokes of Franz Kline and the Ben-Day dots employed by Roy Lichtenstein. A blood-red Jason Moran diptych mirrors an alpaca throw blanket draped on the bed. “It’s not a large collection,” he admits, “but they’re by artists whom I respect and find interesting. When I like an artist, I like their other works, even if they’re really different.”
The apartment’s modest scale makes it an evolving exercise in curation. That discipline also extends to materials—oak, glass, silk, shearling, stone—deftly employed to make each room read as distinct yet connected in spirit. In the spa-like bath, a Wolfgang Tillmans photograph leans against a wall clad entirely in a silky ivory travertine, echoing the atmosphere struck in the bedroom. “The bathroom is a sanctuary,” he says—a room designed for pause in a home that otherwise revels in subtle contrasts.
With Lonstein’s curatorial eye in sharp focus, the apartment also serves as a proxy client where he can experiment with ideas before implementing them elsewhere. “I’ve worked on high-end retail environments where you have to create brands that are both luxurious and distinctive,” says Lonstein, who, prior to launching his own firm, oversaw Tiffany & Co.’s in-house architecture studio and conjured lavish boutiques for Tom Ford and Boucheron while design director at Studio Sofield. “What’s most important for me is creating spaces for clients that reflect who they are. That’s how I feel in this apartment.”
These days, Lonstein is a consummate host. “I always have dinner parties, cocktail parties, and people over for drinks,” he says. “Entertaining is an art, and it gets better the more you do it.” Guests tend to gather around the terrace at sunset, when city lights bathe the apartment in an amber glow. “It makes people feel good when they walk in,” he says. And isn’t that always the goal?