New York Designer Bradley Stephens Orchestrates a Soigné Park Avenue Apartment
Art Deco and Italian influences help shape a cinematic aerie that’s punctuated with contemporary artworks that nod to the longtime client’s career in menswear
When two competitive sisters decided 15 years ago to collaboratively design a shared Hamptons house, it was, of course, going to be an intense push-pull on who would find the right person to orchestrate the interiors. Serendipitously, they both came to the table with the same designer in mind—Bradley Stephens, who was at that time just getting established under his own shingle. “They’ve been muses in a way, both quintessential New Yorkers, but very different people,” says Stephens, who has done almost a dozen different projects for those clients, cultivating vacation homes and city residences for both sisters as well as their parents. “It’s a real love affair.”
In Manhattan, Stephens had crafted a stunning Park Avenue apartment for one of the women, Danielle Mandelbaum, with influences culled from Art Deco and menswear, the latter paying homage to her career as a third-generation maker of neckties. But during the pandemic, Mandelbaum found the address to be just a bit too small for her family’s needs, so she purchased a full-floor unit several blocks away that was in a stunning building, but badly in need of an update. “She was like, ‘It’s time to take everything we learned and really kick it up a notch,’” says Stephens of his client’s directive.
The apartment had “interesting gestures,” says the designer, who took inspiration from these cues to create architectural details like a sculptural ceiling detail that pays homage to the building capitals lining Park Avenue. Terrazzo flooring—an obsession ignited in the couple’s previous residence—finds new life here in the kitchen and entryway, while a once dingy elevator vestibule becomes a show-stopping first impression embellished with an art glass and metalwork enclosure. “We have an Italian, 1970s undercurrent,” says Stephens of the overall aesthetic.
Guests first encounter a chic gallery which leads into a living room orchestrated for convivial conversation with opposing L-shape sofas set beneath a large-scale circular chandelier by Santa & Cole. At one end of the space, artworks by Rudolf Stingel and Piotr Uklanski add visual interest, particularly in relation to the pendant by Feyza Kemahlioglu; Mandelbaum visited the Brooklyn maker’s studio while its blush-colored glass components were being made. On the opposite side of the room, Stephens commissioned an amorphous bar from Stefan Rurak Studio that’s set with custom stools upholstered in a Savel fabric, just one of the many design details inserted into the renovation that support the homeowner’s love of entertaining.
That enthusiasm for hosting parties—from intimate gatherings to dinner for 30—is most reflected in the dining room, where custom cabinets hold Mandelbaum’s extensive collection of tableware and eight custom square resin-coated metal tables can be pushed together to host large-scale holiday meals or pulled apart for spirited games of bridge and mahjong. “I love to be a place where people gather,” says Mandelbaum.
Further elevating the home’s sense of grandeur is the impeccable lighting choices throughout, including the 1970s Gaetano Sciolari chandeliers in the entry, vintage Stanislas Reboul sconces in the living room, and a periwinkle-colored John Salibello ceiling light in a bedroom. “Lighting is very near and dear to my heart,” says Stephens, who strategically balanced the residence’s functional architectural lighting with more expressive fixtures, many sourced on a buying spree at the Paris flea markets. “Decorative lighting is the jewelry but also builds so much of the character.”
The main suite too is a personality-filled sanctuary where a towering custom headboard of channel-tufted Jerry Pair fabric is bookended by vintage wall-mounted nightstands found at the Paris markets. “The bedroom probably has the most Italian influence,” says Stephens, who punctuated the mise-en-scène with a set of mirrored vintage sconces. “It seemed with the headboard elevation that we needed a little bit of glitter, a little bit of height, a little bit of drama.”
Artworks too add visual panache to myriad spaces, many of them with references to Mandelbaum’s career in fashion and fabrics, whether that’s a textural Sheila Hicks wall work in the dining room or the massive Richard Prince joke painting that anchors the space. “It’s very special to me; it reminds me of my dad,” says Mandelbaum of the Prince artwork’s reference to ties. “I also love old lady weavers like Rosemarie Trockel or Sheila Hicks because I love anything that’s done on a loom. I love tactile, and with crafts and art, you don’t know where one begins and one ends. ”
“Danielle and her husband are true collectors, meaning they are passionate about these artists, they get to know them, they get to know the works, they collect them over time,” says Stephens. “The works are so rich; we had a lot of fun curating them around this apartment.”