A busy attorney gave his architect and designers a novel request for his new sky-high city home: “Make it look fabulous at night, because I’m rarely home during the day.”
The attorney sought help from Chicago architect Edward G. Raap, who had designed his law office and Lake Geneva, Wis., log cabin, in searching for a unit just the right size and with unobstructed views. After a year, they found it–a 3,800-square-foot apartment on a high floor of one of the city’s prestigious buildings. The interior left much to be desired for someone seeking serenity, however. The former owner had installed a raised dance floor, strobe lights and suede-covered walls.
Fortunately for Raap and Chicago interior designers John Cannon and Carey Frank, the new owner, a personal-injury attorney, gave them carte blanche. He also sold or gave away all the furnishings he had owned since law school.
“I wanted to move in with just my clothes and books. I even went out and bought new pots and pans,” he says.
After gutting the apartment, architect Raap devised a plan that lets rooms flow together for entertaining and maximizes the city’s night views and lights. Yet, within the revised layout, the architect designed a suite of rooms–a master bedroom, bathroom and study–that can be closed off with doors that pivot like Oriental screens to provide privacy when the owner has guests.
Reconfiguring the home’s floor plan and playing up the owner’s preference for elegant natural materials, Raap visually anchored the space by ringing the perimeter with mahogany. Near the entranceway, he added three steps that lead up to a central hall, its floor laid with imported slate cut into large squares. The slate continues through the center length of the apartment; it resembles water spilling into a dark pool and continuing to ripple.
Walls paneled with anigre, an African wood, are much lighter, adding another handsome contrast. Other walls are painted white. Low-voltage lighting floods the interior at night with crisp beams. Motorized shades designed to prevent light from damaging furnishings are rarely pulled down. Window sills lined in black glass seem to disappear at night.
The designers gave furnishings a neutral palette of grays, upholstering all in soft materials such as mohair and gabardine. They added subtle color and texture. The living-dining room, 45 feet long and 18 feet wide, contains a glass table in bronze tints that mimics the nighttime colors of the Chicago skyline. A crushed velvet terra-cotta-hued bedspread in the master bedroom is accented in hand-stenciled gold leaf. Additional color comes from art–a recent passion of the owner, who hired art consultant Gail Forrest to help build a collection.
“I wanted art that I would enjoy learning about and living with rather than what looked good with my decor,” the owner says.
The piece de resistance of the home is the master bathroom’s stainless steel soaking tub, 5 feet in diameter, 3 feet deep, that was hand-hammered 200,000 times to echo the ripple effect of the slate flooring. (“The only reason we know the number is that the person doing the hammering counted,” Raap said.) A spot for an exercise bike and a steam shower allows the owner to work out.
The kitchen reflects the nighttime theme with black lacquered cabinets and black granite countertops. The only disappointment for the owner, who loves to cook, is that the building’s design dictated electric appliances rather than the gas appliances he prefers.
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RESOURCES
Architecture: Edward G. Raap Architects. Interior design: John Cannon and Carey Frank of Cannon-Frank. General contractor: Wangler Construction Co., Elmhurst. Kitchen design: De Giulio Kitchen Design.
Master bathroom: Tub fabrication–Dan Blue Inc.; polished nickel sinks–Bates & Bates, K&B Galleries, Merchandise Mart.
Master bedroom: Bedspread fabrication–Baird’s Decorating Service; fabric by Nomi–through Holly Hunt Ltd., Merchandise Mart.
Hallway: Chair–Decoro; artwork selected with help of Gail Forrest.
Living room: Chairs and fabric–Donghia Furniture, Mart; Sun and Moon tables between chairs–Gene Summers, Holly Hunt Ltd., Mart; sofas–R. Jones, with Donghia fabric, Holly Hunt Ltd., Mart; antique stone window recycled into a coffee table with floating glass top; top designed by Edward Raap; metalwork by Dan Blue; window–Charles Jacobsen, Los Angeles; rug–the Scott Group, Mart; entertainment center by Dakota Jackson–Holly Hunt Ltd., Mart.
