You don't have to be able to actually read this article (it's in Swedish) to know that this Greenwich Village apartment is luxe. It's got the views, location, outdoor space, and light that make an apartment really stand out in this city:
I would have done cartwheels naked down 5th Avenue to have just this view, just this outdoor space, or just this quality of light in my last apartment. But it's not just the lovely apartment that's exciting here. It's where I found it: I was delighted to find this NYC apartment on the site of Sköna Hem - a home magazine from Sweden that's long been an Apartment Therapy favorite. It's normally filled with charming, white Scandinavian interiors (like this), so this Manhattan abode is something different to see from them.
How do you like this apartment? How do you think it represents life in our city to the Swedish people? See more of it at Sköna Hem.
Images: Paul Brissman/Sköna Hem




Comments (5)
Love this! Wish I was sitting in that adirondack chair instead of an office, though. I actually just wrote a post about wanting chairs like that.
That view looks somewhat like the one in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. Its probably on 9th or 10th street near 5 ave. Awesome location. Ideal apartment!
amazing huge window, and great outdoor space!!
Oh em gee...that VIEW!!!
My google chrome/google translate extension translated the article into English when I visited the original site. Hope it's okay if I paste it here:
Duplex in Greenwich Village
Mats and Lydia Carlton's New York apartment is a home change. Walls knocked out, floors are merged, stairwells annexation. And from the rooftop view is to say the least impressive.
By: Eva Nyqvist Photo: Paul Brissman
Published: 2011-02-18
With its straight lines and large windows give the family Carlton's duplex apartment at Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, a recent and contemporary look. The light reflected in the shiny floors and the home feels open and modern.
But already in the hall you sense the house's true age. The floors creak and squeak and stairs sloping precariously. And there is no elevator.
- The house was built in 1842 as a family house, "says Mats, who came to America in 1984 to study law at UCLA in California.
Enlarge
Terra's sheltered location means that it can be used well into the autumn. The chair is an Adirondack-model and has been very popular on the U.S. east coast since the turn of the century - largely because of the armrests, wide enough for one glass!
Today he is partner in the law firm Pillsbury in Manhattan. Mats and his family, his wife Lydia and the three girls, Aria, 19, Ada, 7, and Alva, 2, has occupied the top two floors of the old house for over seven years.
The couple met on a blind date in 1999, arranged by the common friend, celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson. The following year they married and together they searched for a new apartment in Greenwich Village, where they already lived, with more bedrooms, a fireplace and patio.
- Although this apartment, four floors up, and Lydia was in eighth month, we decided as soon as we came up on the roof - another step up - and saw the view, "says Mats.
Enlarge
Fireplace was one of the requirements when the couple were re-housing. Black and white photograph of Laurent Elie Badessi and coffee table by Isamu Noguchi.
Both from the living room's large windows and roof, they have a magnificent view over Manhattan's roofs and chimneys, and my front and center sits the Empire State Building.
The apartment had three bedrooms and bathroom on the lower floor and a kitchen, dining room, TV room and lounge upstairs. But to get to the roof garden, which belonged to the apartment, had to walk out into the hall.
- Everyone in the house had access to the stairwell and it meant we never used our cozy rooftop, "says Mats.
Enlarge
The living room's north location is compensated by large windows that let in the afternoon sun. Kem Weber's chairs in an art deco from the 1930s is an example of the progressive European design that would be a strong influence on American modernism. Behind are two 1800-talstaburetter from Joe's parents' home in Stockholm.
In the early years the couple made minor improvements and repairs - a new bathroom and a more work-friendly kitchen - but always wondered Mats and Lydia on how they could reconcile their apartment with roof terrace. Where would they be able to build a staircase?
The solution was to use the stairs that already existed, and buying off the top two perspectives in the stairwell, which nobody used anyway, and make the entryway to a part of the apartment.
- Although we have not won as many square feet did a tremendous difference, "said Lydia, and shows where the old wall was, just along the white railings in what is now the upper hall.
Enlarge
The bedroom has exit to a small terrace. The Indian desktop is actually a bureau, whose cabinet now stands at the window. Bed by Danish Bo Concept and bedside lamps from Ikea. The couple's marriage certificate hung like a daily reminder of the bed.
The reconstruction also gave room for a new bathroom for the girls down there, plus guest toilet and storage next to the living room upstairs.
- And it was only when we built over the old stairs that we understand how inconvenient it was located, "says Mats. My living room! Now we get to the spot with the couch.
In order to restore some of the natural light that reached the floor by the old stairs, did they take up a "floor-windows" which also maintains contact between the floors. The walls are consistently white, and floors - freshly laid oak parquet flooring - is stained in a steel-gray tone.
The decor is a mix of new purchases, antiques and family heirlooms that Mats had from his parents' home in Sweden. With the bachelor's den in Stockholm in the 1980s, two chairs of Kem Weber, who now have the traditional leather upholstery has been replaced by bright orange moleskin. It was Lydia's idea and a grip that gave the room a lift and its special character.?
Enlarge
The old staircase, which now unites the family's apartment with roof terrace, but retain their original railings from the 1842nd White leather stool by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Barcelona Series. Photo by French photographer Laurent Elie Badessi that Lydia knows since his time as a model.
Enlarge
Kavaletten with sculpture Big talker Mats rescued from his parents' balcony.
Enlarge
Chairs were designed by Kem Weber in 1930. Above the fireplace a photo of Laurent Elie Badessi, and next to a painting by Peter Dahl. Above the sofa, a painting by Kim Morgan. Rug is a Swedish "antique", bought in New York and the coffee table Isamu Noguchis sculpted classics from 1948.