PARISIAN ALLURE

For architects and interior designers, it's a glorious luxury to have the opportunity to provide input on a home before a client actually purchases it.

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Almost intuitively, a design pro can gauge how the floor plan can or can't be shifted and visualize how rooms could look and, more importantly, live—ultimately sparing clients from renovation nightmares or ending up with a home that doesn't suit their lifestyles.

Architect Kevin Lichten toured about 10 places with his clients—a couple with three children—over the course of a year before feeling confident in the potential of a 1912 apartment on New York City's Upper East Side. Interior designer Jennifer Mabley was also asked to share her perspective on the pros and cons. Their consensus: The apartment could be renovated and outfitted to function well for modern family living.

Common among revered prewar dwellings, the full-floor apartment had formality and architectural elegance in its DNA, albeit masked by a decades-ago renovation. Lichten knew outmoded rooms, such as service areas at the back, could be reconfigured for daily use, including as a breakfast room that would allow the kitchen to become a true family hub. Mabley envisioned finishing details, such as paneled walls and layers of crown molding, to enhance the classic sophistication.

The renovation, a collaboration between Lichten's and Mabley's teams, opened the space to steel beams and columns. “Even though we undid it, we put it back together in a similar fashion,” Mabley says. She and Austin Handler, principals of Mabley Handler Interior Design, tapped senior designer Dana Hanley to contribute to the project. “There was an intention originally on the flow, and we wanted to retain that,” Mabley says. “The direction was an authentic renovation, influenced by classic Manhattan apartments from the past and Parisian elegance.”