Tech entrepreneur Kathy Leake and her husband, Brian White, a digital-media specialist, live in a cloud”or as close to a cloud as a home can get. Their 3,400-square-foot loft, designed by architects Brian Messana and Toby O’Rorke of Messana O’Rorke, is located in a former printing factory in the West Village. The original space was actually two separate apartments, but they liked it so much they knocked down the walls and devised a luxurious open-plan design. The pink wall greeting, seen here in the entrance hall, is a sticker. “It was meant to be a temporary installation before we found a real piece of art,” says Kathy. “But it was so cheerful and fun, we kept it.” Photo: Frank Oudeman
A panoramic view of the kitchen, the back wall of which contains appliances and storage. Just beyond the kitchen lies the master bedroom, bath, and walk-in closet. Photo: Frank Oudeman
Northern and western exposures flood the loft with natural light, while islands of furniture define different areas within the open space. The dining table is actually three different tables from Room & Board, with alternating marble and stainless-steel tops. Even the couple’s 2-year-old daughter, Ava, has a design-minded play station: It rests atop pink rubber floor tiles. Photo: Frank Oudeman
“We have visited 65 countries, and every country we went to has a pin in the map,” says Kathy of the wall covering she found online at Rand McNally. “It comes in eleven different panels; it’s really easy to put up, and you can arrange it the way you want.” The white couch is from BoConcept. Photo: Frank Oudeman
The master bedroom is also white-on-white, save for the color in the reverse-negative photo of a Gerber daisy, the kind of flower Kathy carried at her wedding. Photo: Frank Oudeman
The master bath has a marble floor, a six-foot-long double sink, and a five-foot-ten bathtub. Photo: Frank Oudeman
Where there’s a will there’s a way, and if Kathy likes something enough, money is no object. Case in point: Kathy commissioned a perfect replica of her all-time favorite painting, Francis Bacon’s Study of Nude With Figure in a Mirror, to hang on the rear wall of the loft. Photo: Frank Oudeman
Carl Henry Nacht (left) West Side Highway and 38th Street. After dinner on June 22, 2006, Nacht, a doctor who often cycled to make house calls to his elderly patients, was hit by an NYPD tow truck crossing the Hudson River Park bikeway. Shamar Porter Linden Boulevard near Williams Avenue, East New York. On August 5, 2006, Porter’s Little League team won its playoff game. He was struck by a minivan after leaving the field.