In the living room, a pair of Jens Risom swivel chairs from the 1960s, covered in a Bergamo fabric, and a Lens table by McCollin Bryan sit in front of a laser-cut sliding screen by Erwin Hauer.
In the den, a custom Slab sofa from Wyeth is upholstered in a Rogers & Goffigon alpaca wool. The Saarinen table is from Knoll.
Sanders designed the dining area’s round walnut table in collaboration with Paul Ferrante. Luxor chairs by Patrick Naggar surround it, and a Remains Lighting pendant hangs above. The print on the rosewoodveneer fireplace is by Nicole Eisenman; the yellowshelf artwork is by Sean Mellyn.
Sanders covered the den’s vintage chairs and ottoman in Designers Guild’s Cheviot Twill.
West Side Story The west-facing living room features views of the Hudson and a custom sofa from Wyeth covered in a plain dark gray worsted from Sanderson. The blue armchair, by Edward Wormley for Dunbar, is covered in Kravet’s Haute leather in Azure. The coffee table is by Joe D’Urso and the chaise is by Poul Kjaerholm.
An Avery Boardman sofa bed in Sanders’s office sits on a customcolored needlepoint rug by Vermilion from John Rosselli & Associates. Art above the sofa is by Takashi Murakami. The 1950s oak coffee table is from Duane.
The molded fiberglass wingback chair is by Eames. A vintage Hans Wegner chair sits at an original Dunbar desk.
The master bath has an open shower with a river-rock floor and a tub from WetStyle’s Cube collection; the tub filler is Axor by Hansgrohe.
Scott Sanders, holding Bailey, a miniature dachshund, and Peter Wilson.
The bed in the master suite is upholstered in Maharam’s Monk’s Wool in Tusk. The vintage nightstands are by Edward Wormley and the 1927 architect’s lamps are by Édouard-Wilfred Buquet. A sinuous contemporary chair by Anthony Sisto sits next to a canvas by Melissa Gordon.
Beside the stairway to the roof deck, a painting by Tim Bavington hangs on a wall covered in Ralph Lauren Home’s Sloan Stripe in Dove.
The primary seating area on the roof deck features a vintage Michelle Gratacós Arill rocker and a sectional from Walters, along with a custom table from Ani Ancient Stone.
A bar counter/workstation has a view of the new World Trade Center.
A hot tub sits adjacent to an outdoor shower by Waterworks.
The dining table, comprising a faux-bois concrete top with a steel X-form base from York Street Studio, sits under a wisteria-covered pergola. The woven armchairs are from Janus et Cie.
When designer Scott Sanders was growing up in a small town in Ohio, he spent a lot of time drawing. As the son and grandson of residential developers, it was only natural that he would focus his attention on rendering homes, most of them far grander than the ones his family was building. One illustration even depicts a spacious penthouse with a landscaped roof garden, much like the one where he lives today with his partner, Peter Wilson, a retired corporate attorney.
Wilson bought the Chelsea duplex several years ago, before he and Sanders became a couple. “I had been living on the Upper West Side,” he remembers, “but downtown seemed a lot more exciting. I wound up picking an unfinished unit with three walls of glass and views everywhere.” Those vistas to the east, west, and south encompass some of the great landmarks of New York City, including the Hudson River, the Statue of Liberty, and the new World Trade Center.
In the course of his career, Sanders has developed a signature look he calls “New American Style,” and he’s known for designing homes that are rooted in tradition. But this apartment, with its many mid-20th-century pieces by Eames, Wegner, Wormley, Saarinen, and others, is more overtly contemporary than most of the work he has done for his clients. “‘New American Style,’” Sanders elaborates, “is about warmth, and creating spaces people feel comfortable in. There’s no velvet rope. It’s about layers and textures and mixing the past and present. People’s tastes can change, but for the most part their basic needs always stay the same.”
The primary living space of the Sanders/Wilson penthouse is located on the 14th floor, which comprises an open living room, dining area, and den, plus the kitchen, master suite, and two additional bedrooms now serving as offices. There are two small terraces on the lower floor, but the real luxury is upstairs on the 15th floor, which is entirely given over to an expansive roof deck fitted with a hot tub, an outdoor shower, a shaded dining table, a bar, and even an alfresco sleeping area.
While most of the main living space is wrapped in soft platinum gray tones and gray wall-to-wall carpeting, there is a lot of color in the furniture and accessories, particularly blue. “I love blue and turquoise,” Sanders says. “Blue was my mother’s favorite color, and we always had blue houses. I associate it with everything good about being home.”
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