Feature

Glass Act

One of the first tenants to set up house in Richard Meier’s towers embraces the exposure (most of the time) from his sleek—but luxuriously soft—modernist perch.

Published Feb 2, 2004

INTERIOR DESIGN EDITOR: WOODY GOODMAN
PHOTOGRAPHED BY FERNANDO BENGOECHEA
TEXT BY ALEXANDRA LANGE

As one of the first full-time residents of Richard Meier’s Perry Street towers, Michael Holtz has gotten used to life in the modernist fishbowl. The owner of the Smart Flyer, an upscale travel agency, Holtz can’t compete with his neighbors (Calvin, Nicole) for star status, but his second-floor apartment in the north tower still attracts plenty of attention: “Every Saturday morning, there’s a walking tour of the West Village,” he says, “and I’m sitting at the computer, and everyone’s pointing at me. Sometimes I pull down the shades, but usually I just play along and keep typing. If I had kids or was married, it would be more of an issue. It’s really the ultimate bachelor pad.” Of course, few bachelors live quite so stylishly. Holtz’s decorator, Chris Kraig, formerly of ABC Carpet & Home, has used shag rugs in wool and sisal, as well as pillows in raw silk and felt, to warm up the 1,800-square-foot concrete space, fitted out with American-walnut floors and anigre walls that float free of the perimeter windows and ceiling. “I love architectural spaces,” says Kraig, “but blended with a soft modernism, something tactile.” So no Mies (or even Meier, for that matter) but, rather, furniture that’s a mix of sixties Danish and contemporary Italian. “Michael was moving into one of the premier residential buildings of the last 50 years. The furniture had to live up to the architecture.”

A First Look Inside: Photos of an apartment in the Glass Towers >>>

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