A Penthouse Duplex in a Studio Building

The apartments at 257 West 86th Street were designed around the turn of the century to lure painters: Massive canvases could easily wheel into double-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 bedrooms. And on their way up, they could see their work from a different angle, 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 Gould Proctor 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-glass windows, she would practice in the mornings, rehearse in the afternoons, and sometimes record. The space and its excellent sound allowed her to throw informal concerts, which could spill onto 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 duplex 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. The original, dark woodwork — coffered paneling against a staircase, and beams over the living area — had already been painted 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 turned into a library where they would read and watch movies. They filled the walls with paintings by old friends, including an Eyal Danieli image of a paratrooper, an Ezra Kohn painting of a hippo, and work by Louise Fishman, whom Idith collaborated with.

The Kormans are now itching to return to where they came from — downtown. They are leaving the home where they raised 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 Kaija Saariaho. “Our careers blossomed, our child grew up, we had wonderful concerts and events in the living room,” she said. “It is an inspiring place.”

The door at the foot of the staircase is the apartment’s entrance and leads to a living area that’s 28 by 20 feet, with double-high ceilings. Lisa Lippman, the Brown Harris Stevens broker who is selling the penthouse, has sold two other units in the building. “It has a kind of artist’s glamour to it.”
Photo: Stefano Ukmar

The Kormans moved from downtown in 2004 and were looking for a place close to their son’s school where Dr. Idith Meshulam Korman, a classical pianist, could rehearse.
Photo: Stefano Ukmar

The Kormans updated the wood-burning fireplace and the floors and filled the apartment with art by their friends. The hippo painting behind Idith’s piano is by their friend Ezra Kohn.
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 leads 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 turned into a library 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 Danieli. The building was designed with visual artists in mind and was once home to portrait painter Ernest Ipsen, landscape painter Franklin De Haven, comic-strip artist Rudolph Dirks, and even Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mt. Rushmore.
Photo: Stefano Ukmar

The kitchen, off the great room, was updated by a previous owner before the Kormans 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 would host parties. The floral painting is by Amanda Guest, a British artist.
Photo: Stefano Ukmar

The terrace on the 13th floor is the only large outdoor space in the building, which has 40 units. “It’s 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 south over 86th Street.
Photo: Stefano Ukmar

The smaller bedroom on the upper level has access to its own bathroom and shares a hall with the primary bedroom.
Photo: Stefano Ukmar