Gut Renovation of Co-op LandMark Penthouse
610 West End Avenue
Project Overview
TYPE: Gut Renovation of the LandMark Penthouse with Two Bedrooms, One bathroom, Central Air, working fireplace and wrap around Terrace.
LOCATION: 610 West End Avenue, NYC
CONSTRUCTION DURATION: 6 months
More Prewar Reno Before & Afters, Walkthrough Videos
The Full Story Behind this Landmark UWS Penthouse Contemporary Reno:
The goal of our Design Build project was to transform this unusual Penthouse with a fireplace and terrace larger then the apartment into a beautiful contemporary forever home! The apartment had great bones to work with including natural light and tall ceilings, new Marvin Doors and Windows, and three skylights and Central Air. However, it had no water pressure, and although building steam radiators were there it was barely 50 degrees during the winter! We rescued this stalled project to create this family’s forever home. This included an open kitchen/dining room and family room, upgraded electric to the 12th floor with scaffolding permits, added hot and cold water booster pumps to increase water pressure to 60 psi from 20 psi, added dry heat pump for supplementary central heat, opened the second office/ bedroom off the main room with tandem pocket doors, new floors, vented hood in new kitchen, a typical 5 x 7 bath with window and exhaust fan, all transformed into a contemporary loft apartment that feels like it is floating in the sky — just stunning!
The gut renovation included complete upgrade of electric and plumbing from building risers. Electric upgrade to 200 AMPs required scaffolding up to the Penthouse from the back courtyard and Landmark approvals even though nothing changed the visible facade. Removed all walls between the kitchen and dining/family room, and ripped out the dropped ceiling to expand heights to over 10 feet. Gutted kitchen and bath, floors, changed the bath walls to add the wall hung toilet and pantry/nook in kitchen for beverage center and drawer microwave. We enlarged the second bedroom opening with tandem pocket doors to create a flexible office/guest bedroom when needed. Changed all doors and door hardware, fire proof entrance and service doors, and door openings, new door hardware, and installed dry heat pump in Central AC. We also put in new wide-plank rift and quarter-sawn white oak floors throughout, wired window treatments, and designed new lighting with dropped ceilings and new crown moldings. Base and shoe moldings were updated. Besides my Custom Kitchen flat panel doors with finger pulls throughout in Antique Cherry with seated counter, Wolf induction range and vented hood, pop up outlets in the Caesarstone countertop, Walnut Builtin for entertainment storage and guitars, added my custom individual radiator covers with Frank Lloyd Wright Panel grills, added window sills throughout in pure white caesarstone and recessed honed Absolute door sills throughout to protect the floors at terrace door openings. New closet interiors throughout and a vented stackable washer dryer was
Working with this building was challenging, to say the least! Besides that, nothing was plumb.
The Challenges of this UWS Landmark Co-op Penthouse Reno:
We came on board to start over with the client, who had initially begun the process with a different team. The building review took close to four months to get through them and secure permits. With a fresh perspective, we changed the layout to improve the lighting design, closet openings, bedroom entrance door locations, and open the floor plan. We added secondary skylight interior double pane sash panels to prevent heat escape, bath exhaust fans, replaced the older radiators and had to add convection electric radiator for guest room since steam radiator pitch was wrong and leaking with added thermostat control. The kitchen was expanded into the dining room space by opening the walls and dropped ceiling for lighting. We added the beverage center and pantry over the microwave drawer, drawer organizers, a tall cabinet with the expanding storage pull-out, and LED under-cabinet lighting. The soft veining Caesarstone quartz countertops, which we loved, along with my custom kitchen door design and custom millwork. The clean lines with finger pulls for most of the kitchen cabinetry created a perfect contrast to the light rift and quarter sawn bleached floors. The room opened up completely to beautiful natural light on three sides. The updated fireplace with fireclay hand made tiles, a solid walnut Mantel and honed absolute hearth and surrounds added a gorgeous focal point from anywhere in the room!
The bathroom was beautifully finished with a mid century feeling with Fireclay mosaics and ceramic field tile in off-whites and soft blue combo on the floor. The design included a great soaking tub undermounted with a Caesarstone surround, showers with cubbies, frameless 1/2-inch Starphire glass enclosures , and custom vanity, radiant heat flooring, added a tall Robern storage cabinet, magnifying mirror, Schoolhouse light fixture and my custom vanity!
Key Renovation Highlights:
- Opened kitchen to dining room, creating a 15-inch seated counter with custom cabinetry throughout
- New Wolf induction range, and hood, U-Line Beverage center and existing Bosch dishwasher and Subzero Refrigerator with flood stops
- Vented new stacked GE washer/dryer in a kitchen closet with flood stops
- New Upgraded Plumbing lines, 200 AMPs pulled up to new Electric breaker panel
- Installed new wide-planked rift and quarter-sawn select-grade European oak floors, sanded, sealed with Bona Nordic to lighten and protect the natural color of the wood, and finished with polyurethane high-traffic Bona topcoats
- New lighting design, recessed lights, and new light fixtures throughout
Adventures in Design Build – Before & After Videos
Don’t miss this project’s highlights. I’ve included a before-and-after video of this Penthouse co-op as well as the video walkthroughs. Each video and photo highlights the transformation, from the initial challenges to the deeply satisfying reveals.
Project Result:
The transformation of this space was so significant, I decided to include drone videos to capture the immense scope of transforming this Pre War building apartment into a Contemporary loft!! Although the clients were renting an aparment next door and present during the entire reno which is unusal for us, they were astonished with the final result— and it was an emotional reveal of their forever home.
We love it, but they were truly amazed and thrilled and could not find words.. truly overwhelmed. Their reaction and affirmation of how beautiful it is and went beyond their vision for it’s design and transformation is why I do this —and how much it means to me to change someone’s life—with such joy! I’m grateful to them for choosing us to create their perfect Contemporary home!
More Prewar Reno Before & Afters, Walkthrough Videos
For those of you who love the ups and downs of renovation transformations, don’t miss my prewar project playlists featuring before-and-after videos of some of my most challenging prewar apartment renovations, as well as a prewar walkthrough video playlist.
If you love this project as much as we do, and you’re ready to renovate, contact Paula McDonald Design Build & Interiors today!