The Library The renovation is by Maurizio Bianchi Mattioli. His firm, Studio MBM, designed the rugs as well as the custom millwork and furniture throughout, including the built-in sofa. The gallery wall includes work by Pope.L, Jason Fox, Paulo Nazareth, Sam Moyer, and Sheila Hicks.
Photo: Sean Davidson
The top loft of the 1903 cast-iron Soho building hadn’t been touched in three decades. The renovation would need to be significant. But there was one feature designer Maurizio Bianchi Mattioli intended to preserve: a 30-foot-long south-facing window installed by the previous owner.
“We were very lucky to have the lot-line windows,” Mattioli says. “You don’t typically see them from the sidewalk.”
A young couple, Josephine and Alex de Pfyffer, an art dealer and an entrepreneur, respectively, hired Mattioli, the founder of Studio MBM, to overhaul the 2,400-square-foot penthouse loft. It had glossy, black-painted floors and barrel-vaulted ceilings, plus some “weird spaces,” says Alex. Josephine appreciated its open layout.
“I grew up in Manhattan in a prewar building, so the spaces were more divided,” she says. “The entertaining rooms ended up not being used very often by our family and then the kitchen was where we spent most of our time.”
That apartment was filled with works by the artists whom her parents, David Nash and Lucy Mitchell-Innes, championed, first at Sotheby’s and later at their own gallery. The loft now showcases Josephine and Alex’s burgeoning collection, which includes some of the artists she has brought to Mitchell-Innes & Nash, such as Gerasimos Floratos.
Mattioli reconfigured the apartment’s long and narrow footprint by defining each area through color, lighting, and architectural alterations. To conceal a new air-conditioning system, he dropped the ceiling height in one spot and created a cocoonlike library bathed in deep navy. There is a glass-walled office on one side of it and an open kitchen, dining area, and living room on the other, with vast views of downtown.
Alex, who grew up in Switzerland, where his mother is a well-known interior designer, had reservations about some of the proposed additions, specifically a kitchen island he feared would look too corporate. Mattioli won him over with a design in marble that appears to float. “In retrospect,” Alex says, “we should have listened to everything Maurizio said from the beginning.”
The Seating Area The Moroso Gogan sofa is by Patricia Urquiola. The Arthur Vallin side table is beside Eponimo chairs upholstered in Maharam fabric. The coffee table is by Frisoli. The work on paper is by Keltie Ferris, and the sculpture is by Anthony Caro.
Photo: Sean Davidson
The Entry Foyer The custom millwork by Studio MBM features sculptural doors that function both as storage and as an enclosure for an office facing the library, where a work by Sadie Benning is seen. The sculpture is by Nicole Eisenman.
Photo: Sean Davidson
The Gallery Wall The artists on display, from left: Pope.L, Jason Fox, Eddie Martinez, Paula Nazareth, Xylor Jane, General Idea, Xylor Jane, Xylor Jane, Sam Moyer, Rosana Paulino, Sheila Hicks and Gideon Appah.
Photo: Sean Davidson
The Dining Area The wickerwork is by Dylan Spaysky. The painting is by Gideon Appah.
Photo: Sean Davidson
The Kitchen The 11-foot-long trambisera marble island houses a wine fridge and oven as well as storage. The art works are by Gideon Appah and Sharif Farrag.
Photo: Sean Davidson
The Main Bedroom The painting over the bed is by Eddie Martinez. The ceramic side lamps are by Episode. The sculpture is by Seung-Taek Lee. The stand-alone dresser is by Kanttari.
Photo: Sean Davidson
The Guest Bathroom The custom tile work is by Studio MBM.
Photo: Sean Davidson
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