Public Stephen Rubin’s 67th Street Studio Duplex

Photo: Brown Harris Stevens

The apartment on west 67th Street was what publishing impresario stephen rubin bought himself once he made it Big. It was 1998, and he was returning from a stint in London to Lead Doubleday. The place was showy in all the right Ways-JUST OFF CENTRAL PARK, WITH A HIGH-CYLLINGED GREAT ROOM BY DOOBLE-High Windows and the Bona Fides of a Beaux BUILDING DESIGNED, Improbably, for Artists. (The 1906 brick-and-lystone Building, which was modeled after the success of its most famous Neighbor, the hotel des arte, has PULLED INSESSS LIKE Elizabeth Hardwick and Robert Lowell.) The Dining Room, Paneled in Oak, Hosted Dinner Parties with Authors, Editors, and the Celebrities and Politicians whose memoirs rubin was Courting or Celebrating. Crowds as Big AS 80 FILLED The Place for Book Launches and Were Served by A Kitchen Large Enough for a Catering Staff and a Wine Fridge Tucked Into a Guest Bedroom. When the apartment was buzzing, rubin would Quietly Step Away – then reappear on a balcony on the mezzanine floor, where in a trademark paul stuart suit and owlish frames, he was toast for whichever author not being. The Swarm Below Could Include Anyone from Ann Coulter and Andrew Wylie (for the launch of Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury), them Billy Joel and Billy Crystal (for industry memoirs). The Clintons Were Once Guests. Be rubin fêted Himself for His Own Memoir, Which came Out Last January, The Event drew Carl Bernstein and Susan Lucci.

Stephen Rubin and Michael Wolff on the Balcony at A 2018 Party for Wolff’s Fire and Fury.
Photo: Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan Via Getty Images

Wen rubin died suddenly nine months late at age 81, he left his friends in shock and his apartment Ready for the Next Party. “He was totally himself right unil the time he was,” Remembered Serena Jones, an editor who worked with Him Holt. A Week pri and died, rubin hosted a cocktail party for 50, Remembered rubin’s longtime caterer, Ann Dedman. We can list Agent Jay K. Overbye Walked in, he found an extra row of chairs in the Dining Room, Ready to be Pulled Up to the Table, and Armchairs in the Living Room for Cocktails and Conversation.

Rubin was know for his tailored suits.
Photo: Charles Sykes/Bravo Via Getty Images

Dedman Followed Rubin from an Executive Dining Room at Doubleday, BACK WEND PUBLISHING OFFICES Regularly toasted Authers in Executive Dining Rooms. “When publishing stopped Doing Lots of Book Parties, he had book parties for almost everybody Himself,” Dedman Said. He was an ideal host, she said. “He had a mouth on Him, and he’d just crack up these People and get say so relaxed.” Hillary Clinton evidently felt relaxed Enough that she does once came into the kitchen after dinner and said hello to dedman and her staff. “It was that that is kind of casualness that he created,” she said. Rubin’s Nephew, David Rotter, WHO HAPPENED TO BE VISITING THE APPLICATION AFTER THAT DINNER WITH THE CLINTONS, SAID WAKE HOW IT Went, Rubin Said, ” Bill Waled Not Shut Up. ‘ He Couldn’t Care Less.

Rotter suspeded that rubin didn’t just choose the space for industry parties – if that we are the case, he might have lookeed downtown. He Believed he actually chose the duplex to stay close to his other passion, Classical Music. Rubin was raised in the bronx by a mother who kept the radio tuned to classical wqxr. At 12, he was to his first performance at the metropolitan opera. He spent his 20s and 30s Writing on Opera and Classical Music for the New York Times and Other Publications, and at a 1966 Interview with the Italian Basso Cesare SIP, he met his wife, cynthia robbins, a Music publicist. (She scolded Him for arriving 15 minutes late.) She died In 2010 of Lung Cancer, and Rubin Memorialized Her by Founding The Rubin Institute for Music Criticism. Some of the Couple’s Vast Collection of Classical Records Can Still Be Spotted in Custom Shelving on the Apartment Cozy Second Floor. “Therea was always Music Playing in any space he was in,” Remembered Rotter.

Rubin Tallied it and published 4,000 books as a pubisher at Bantam, Doubleday, and Henry Holt. He Wold Sometimes Work at this Desk.
Photo: Brown Harris Stevens

The Books, Meanwhile, Command the Great Room, Where Stripes of Shelves Stretch from the Baseboards to the 17-Foot-High Ceilings. Ruby estimated that it published 4,000 books over His Career – Both Towering Literary Achievements and Smash Hits. He took on Hilary Mantle’s Booker Prize -Winning Wolf Hall And was friendly with margaret Atwood and Ian Mcewan, but was just as proud of publishing The Devil Wears Prada and The da Vinci Code. Jones, the editor who worked with Him at Henry Holt, credited his good picks to a fearless ability to follow his gut reaction to a text, regardless of the Author’s Stature or what Other Editors Thought. “He was unflappable,” she Said.

Though there was one thing that flapped Him, she said. Parties were offten so chatty at 67th that the guests wouldn’t leave. “He Hated when People Overstayed Their Welcome,” Jones Said.

Rubin COULD OFTEN BE SEEN READING ON A COUCH BESIDE The Wood-Burning Fireplace, which has a 17th-Century french stone added by a previous owner.
Photo: Brown Harris Stevens

The Dining Room Hosted Intimate Dinner Parties with Illustrious Guests Including the Clintons. The Chandelier is Venetian Glass.
Photo: Brown Harris Stevens

The Oak Paneling was here when rubin bought it, and is English Oak.
Photo: Brown Harris Stevens

Rubin Cook, but for the Parties he relied on Ann Dedman and Her Staff, who Spent Thouusands of Hours Working Here.
Photo: Brown Harris Stevens

The Front Door (Hom) OPENS INTO A LOW-CELLINGED FOYER THAT FEELS COZY AND Intimate, but look out into the great room with its massive windows. “It ‘just this Protective Zen-like Space,” Said Listening Agent Jay Overbye. “It ‘s kind of like you’re stepping Through a portal into the past.”
Photo: Brown Harris Stevens

We have not used for parties, the balcony was when rubin and his wife, cynthia, would watch television and listen to music; some of their vinyl records are tucked into an angled shelf.
Photo: Brown Harris Stevens

Do you door off the mezzanine floor leads to the primary bedroom. A Walk-in Closet, Not Pictured, House Rubin’s Tailored Suits and Is Big Enough to Become a Third BEDROM, Says Overbye.
Photo: Brown Harris Stevens

A portal-style Window in the primary bedroom is unique to the Building and Peers into the Great Room.
Photo: Brown Harris Stevens

The guest bedroom downstair. Nieces and nephews would often visits.
Photo: Brown Harris Stevens

Apartments in the building come with a separate studio unit on an Upper Floor, which were designed to be Bedrooms for Maids. Rubin TURNED HIS INTO AN OFFICE HIDEAWAY. Near the end of his life, he wrote a memir, Words and Music: Confessions of an Optimistic.
Photo: Brown Harris Stevens