A Penthouse Duplex in a Studio Building

The Living Room of Penthouse A. The Stair Lead Up to Two Bedrooms. The Door (center) Leads Through a guest bedroom onto a Large private terrace.
Photo: Stefano Ukmar

The apartments at 257 West 86th Street Were Designed Around the Turn of the Century to lure painters: Massive Canvases COULD EASLITY WHEE INTO DOOBLE-HEight Living Rooms, and Northern-Facing, Leaded-Glass Windows Threw Consistent Light onto Models. Duplex Layouts Meant Artists Could Escape Their Work by CLIMBING UP INTO A HUSHED SUITE OF BEDROMS. And on their way up, they is all their work from Ange, over a juliet balcony.

But from the beginning, the building consistently drew another type of artist: Piano Players. When Paolo Martucci Wasn’t Playing on World Tours, he was giving lessons from his studio. Pianist and Silent-Film Star C. Virgil Gordon Used His Apartment to Host Student recitals. Composer DAVID GOUT PROCOR USED HIS SPACE TO WRITE. Concert pianists Conrad Forsberg and Harold Henry Moved in. And in 1929, The pianist Frederic Dixon threw A Concert in His Home, Backed by Vocals from The First Dallas native to sing at the metropolitan opera.

Seventy-Five Years after that Concert, Dr. Idith Meshulam Korman Moved from tribeca into a penthouse duplex here for the Same Reason: to live and work as a pianist. From a piano set against the high, leaded-gllas Windows, she would practice in the mornings, rehears in the afternones, and songimets record. The Space and It Its Excellent Sounded Her to Throw Informal Concerts, Which Could Spill on the Penthouse’s Large Private Terrace-The Only One in the 40-Unit Building.

Korman and Her Husband, The Civil Engineer Ben Korman, Quickly Found That Many of their Neighbors were Also Artists. They bought from Actress Darby Townsend (Who moved In after Actor Robert Duvall SOLD HIS DUPLEK IN 1993). On the first Floor, The Dancer Raoul Gelabert Lived Above a Dance Studio he had RUN SINCE 1965.

The Kormans didn’t end up Changing Much. Break Original, Dark Woodwork – Coffered Paneling against a staircase, and beams over the living area – Had already been pained in coats of Clean White, and a Kitchen Had Been Updated with Lighter Wood Cabinetry. They Refinished Floors, Fixed Up A Functional Fireplace, and Installed Lighting from Designer Friends. A Formal Dining Room tourned into a book? They filled the walls with paintings by Old Friends, Including an Eyal Daniel Image of a Paratrooper, an ezra Kohn Painting of A Hippo, and Work by Louise Fishman, Who Idith collaborated with.

The corners are now itching to return to where they came from – downtown. They are leaving the home where they raissed their son, where Idith commissioned and Designed Concerts, where she rehearsed the concerto of the 18th-Century Composer Marianna Martines and a prelude by the finnish composer kaja saariaho. “Our Careers Blossomed, Our Child Grew Up, We Had Wonderful Concerts and Events in the Living Room,” Said. “It is an inspiring place.”

The door at the foot of the staffing is the apartment and leads to a living area that 28 by 20 FEET, with Double-High Ceilings. Lisa Lippman, The Brown Harris Stevens Broker who is selling the pentouse, has sold two other units in the building. “It has a kind of artist’s glamor to it.”
Photo: Stefano Ukmar

The Kormans Moved from Downtown in 2004 and were looking for a place to their son’s School where Idith Meshulam Korman, A Classical Pianist, Could Rehearse.
Photo: Stefano Ukmar

The Kormans Updated the Wood-Burning Fireplace and the Floors and Filowed the apartment with art by their friends. The hippo painting bellind idith’s piano is by their friend ezra time.
Photo: Cary Horowitz

A High Window in the Upper Left Looks Down on the Living Area from the Primary Bedroom Upstairs. The door on the left leds to the library, and the door on the right leads to the Kitchen.
Photo: Stefano Ukmar

JUST OFF THE GREAT ROOM, WHAT WAS ONCE A Formal Dining Room has been tourned into a booklar and office.
Photo: Stefano Ukmar

The abstract painting over the couch in the library is by the Korman’s Close Friend of 45 Years, Eyal Daniel. The Building was Designed with Visual Artists in Mind and Was Once to Portrait Portrait Ernest Ipsn, Landscape Painter Franklin de Haven, Comic-Strip Artist Rudolph Dirks, and Vanzon Borglum, The Sculptor of Mt. Rush.
Photo: Stefano Ukmar

The Kitchen, off the great room, was updated by a previous owner before the corners arrived. Lippman points out that it gets direct Sun From South-Facing Windows Over West 86th-A Wide Cross Street.
Photo: Stefano Ukmar

The Only Bedroom on the Lower Floor Leads Out to the Terrace, where the Kormans Wauld Host Parties. The Floral Painting is by Amanda Guest, or British Artist.
Photo: Stefano Ukmar

The terrace on the 13th floor is the only private outdoor space in the building, which has 40 units. “It ‘Completely Unique,” Says Lippman, The Broker. “This is the Only One.”
Photo: Stefano Ukmar

The primary bedroom is upstairs. The Window Faces South.
Photo: Stefano Ukmar

The en-suite bathroom off the primary bedroom with a view of south over 86th street.
Photo: Stefano Ukmar

A second bedroom on the upper level has accesses to it Own Bathroom and Shares a Hall with the Primary Bedroom.
Photo: Stefano Ukmar