sliding frosted-glass panels in a living room with gray couches
Sliding frosted-glass panels framed in unlacquered brass separate the bedroom from the living area, which has a Nicolas Party painting and a cocktail table and lounge chairs by Poul Kjærholm.

Inside a Flatiron Loft That Doubles as a Spalike Retreat

2023 Best of Year Winner for Small Apartment

Rarely does an architect get to renovate the same property three times—let alone within a decade. But the owner of a loft in Manhattan’s Flatiron District, an art dealer, kept coming back to Messana O’Rorke. After the firm designed his original 800-square-foot apartment, the client purchased the studio next door; partners Brian Messana and Toby O’Rorke combined them to create a 1,200-square-foot unit. Later, they returned to install a new kitchen and flooring. Throughout the process, the loft retained a warm, minimal aesthetic and oak-and-brass palette. “We expanded and altered it while keeping the same spirit,” Messana notes.


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Located in a former factory building, the expanded apartment has an 11-foot ceiling and seven south-facing windows. The challenge, Messana says, “was how to keep the essence of a loft, that big open space, without creating a studio.” The solution lay in sliding frosted-glass doors trimmed in unlacquered brass that separate the bedroom suite and a snug den from the living and dining area, but allow light to flood through.

a gray kitchen island with oak cabinets and wood flooring
In the kitchen, the waterfall countertop is basaltina stone and the custom cabinetry French oak, which matches the new flooring throughout.

The first iteration of the apartment had a galley kitchen that the client rarely used, but over the years, he began to cook more and wanted to entertain. Messana O’Rorke opened the kitchen to the great room, removing the partition wall and installing a basaltina stone countertop with a fridge and freezer hidden underneath. Cabinets clad in French oak match new 9-inch-wide floorboards that replaced fumed-oak flooring to further lighten the space.

For all their appeal, lofts can lack an element of surprise: You walk in the door and see a huge space in its entirety. “The problem is you only have one experience—it’s one-note,” Messana says. He and O’Rorke laid out the apartment so it reveals itself gradually, creating a sequence of events. At the entrance, visitors encounter an intimate foyer with a shoe closet, then turn into a storage-lined hallway and glimpse the front windows. But it’s only farther down, when they arrive at the kitchen, that they can start to appreciate the full size of the loft—and it takes further exploration still to discover the more tucked-away den and bedroom.

There’s one last surprise. “Nobody expects the main bathroom—it’s insane,” Messana says. A masculine, spalike retreat, it’s covered almost entirely in exuberant travertine, including a sexy shower stall with an illuminated tinted mirror. An encore indeed.

Walk Through the Manhattan Loft Apartment

sliding frosted-glass panels in a living room with gray couches
Sliding frosted-glass panels framed in unlacquered brass separate the bedroom from the living area, which has a Nicolas Party painting and a cocktail table and lounge chairs by Poul Kjærholm.
an oak bookshelf in a dining room with a wood table
An oak bookshelf anchors the dining area, where the table is by George Nakashima.
More bronze-framed glass panels enclose the den off the dining area.
More bronze-framed glass panels enclose the den off the dining area.
A Julian Pace painting hangs in the bedroom.
A Julian Pace painting hangs in the bedroom.
a white bed with a wood headboard near a minimalist lamp
Peter Bristol’s lamp stands on the custom headboard.
Floor-to-ceiling shelves in the entry’s mirror-backed shoe closet
Floor-to-ceiling shelves in the entry’s mirror-backed shoe closet are Euro­pean white oak.
an office in the bedroom with a black chair
In a Flatiron District loft, the bedroom’s office nook—with art by Wayne Thiebaud, Fernando Botero, and Amber Andrews—is clad in custom fumed and wire-brushed European white oak.
the main bathroom is wrapped in travertine
The main bathroom, including its custom sink and vanity, is wrapped entirely in travertine.
The water closet off the shower is enclosed by a pocket door.
The water closet off the shower is enclosed by a pocket door.
product sources from front

fair: stools (kitchen).
dwr: sofa (living area).
armadillo: rug.
the citizenry: ottoman.
water­works: fittings (bathroom).
uc group: custom bed (bedroom), custom glass panels, custom sliders (bedroom, living area), medicine cabinet (bathroom), shelves (closet).
juniper: lamp (bedroom).
west nyc home: sofa (den).

throughout

the hudson company: wood flooring.
lv stone source: stone supplier.
zerolux lighting design: lighting consultant.
m.a. rubiano: mep.
wood floors & surfaces: woodwork.
abs renovations: general contractor.

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