— Photographer:  / September 27, 2024

Ask any New Yorker about their most coveted home amenity, and the majority will likely reply “outdoor space”—a true luxury in the dense metropolis. At Lantern House, the Thomas Heatherwick-designed development that straddles the High Line in Chelsea, one residence is blessed not only with the architectural inventiveness of the building’s unique fenestration, but also a rooftop garden with views that wrap around from the Statue of Liberty to the Empire State Building.

Designer Catalina Castaño immediately clicked with her client, who purchased this duplex residence as a pied-à-terre for visits to New York from San Francisco and had indoor-outdoor living top of mind. “Coming from California, he wanted a place where he could come and meditate, or have his coffee,” Castaño shares. As well as the expansive terrace, which covers nearly the full footprint of the unit, the apartment benefits from boundless natural light that streams in through the huge, lantern-like windows, high ceilings and the blank slate offered by a new-construction building. With her client on the West Coast, Castaño oversaw the hiring and management of general contractors Liam Treanor and Eric Ortense, who together elevated the striking white shell into a bespoke confection.

Home Details

Interior Design

Catalina Castaño, Catalina Castaño Interiors

Home Builder

Liam Treanor and Eric Ortense, Streamline USA, LLC

Landscape Architecture

Michelle Lin-Luse, Hollander Design Landscape Architects

“The apartment is basically a light box,” describes Castaño, who chose to highlight the distinct faceted windows through her design scheme. “We did not want to compete with the views, but rather to create a sense of place that would be calm, warm and inviting,” she notes. In turn, blinds were installed behind fascia boards instead of drapes so as not to interrupt the expanses of glazing, and, in the living area, Castaño designed a sofa that hugs the window bay and sits low to maximize sight lines. Its diamond-shaped arm and backrest are shaped to echo the angles of the mullions, while the earthy-hued upholstery complements the russet tones of the skyline.

To reflect the client’s global taste, furniture and artwork throughout the apartment are purposefully eclectic and “look collected and curated, as if the pieces were bought on different trips,” Castaño explains. Enveloped in Venetian plaster, the living area’s meticulous art curation, which includes a commissioned rice-paper work by Zhuang Hong-yi above the fireplace and a striking wooden sculpture by Tucker Robbins, lends a worldly perspective while nodding to the artistic spirit of the neighborhood. Custom furnishings, from the aforementioned sofa to the primary suite’s teak bed with integrated floating nightstands, are works of art unto themselves.

The bespoke living room sofa’s angular arm and backrest echo the faceted glass panels behind. A rug from The Future Perfect unites a Made in Ratio wood chair, a Cliff Young upholstered chair and a Glas Italia coffee table. The sculpture is Tucker Robbins.

The layout was left largely unchanged, although the designer swapped the living and dining areas around and reconfigured a walk-in closet to provide more storage. Another major intervention involved dropping the ceilings to accommodate recessed and decorative lighting, a sound system and hidden blinds for the windows.

Upstairs, the outdoor space is the home’s largest “room” and was treated as such, according to Michelle Lin-Luse of Hollander Design Landscape Architects—the firm responsible for the communal exterior spaces and several other private gardens at Lantern House. Lin-Luse and Castaño worked closely to ensure that the terrace would feel like a continuation of the interiors through color, furniture selections and contextual relationships.

“We did not want to compete with the views , but rather to create a sense of place that would be calm, warm and inviting .”

– CATALINA CASTAÑO

This secret garden is used primarily for entertaining friends, and its dining and lounge areas are loosely delineated by curved borders between gray porcelain tiles and synthetic wood flooring. “New York is full of metal and concrete, so we incorporated some of that into the design,” Castaño says, referring to aluminum planters and a pergola over the dining table equipped with operable slats that can be closed in inclement weather. Other elements include an all-black outdoor kitchen and comfortable furniture for relaxing.

Referencing the High Line below, the planting scheme reads as a study in green, save the dwarf Japanese maples that offer dashes of garnet color. Textured grasses and evergreen shrubs are all kept low so as not to obstruct the views. (Since the space is not directly overlooked, privacy wasn’t a concern.) “It was all about playing with foliage, shape and contrast,” Lin-Luse says. The synergy between the residence’s interior and exterior spaces, both capitalizing on the architecture and the city panoramas to full effect, have resulted in a comfortable and stylish urban refuge that is sure to be the envy of any New Yorker.

Walls finished with a geometric pattern complement the bespoke teak headboard and nightstand in the primary bedroom. Soft accents abound, from the Ligne Roset chair to the Sacco Carpet rug and drapes of silver Romo fabric. Bocci pendants from West Out East and a painting by Jay Hartmann ornament the scene.

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