Art Deco Co-op on Upper East Side Undergoes Dramatic Renovation

The lobby is the first impression that sets the tone for your building’s interior. When deferred maintenance turns a once beautiful space into something dim and musty, renovation is a must — for both aesthetics and boosting sales.

Case in point. The beautiful art deco co-op at 350 E. 77th St. on the Upper East Side hadn’t touched its lobby in decades — and it showed. The floor, covered with dingy mosaic tiles, was sagging, and the lighting was drab and cheerless. There was no proper mailroom — just a protruding wall cabinet with mailboxes — and there was no space for packages. “In general, the space was abysmal and very dark, almost scary,” says Marilyn Sygrove, who was brought in to do a top-to-bottom refresh. “The challenge was to bring the lobby up to date in terms of storage space — and restore it to its period glory.”

Point of entry. The first area of focus was the front doors. “The original ones had been replaced with these standard, storefront-looking doors with aluminum frames and glass,” Sygrove says. “They were, however, set inside a handsome, carved-limestone facade, so we designed dramatic art deco-inspired doors in black iron, very much in keeping with the period.” Next came the floor, which was ripped out, leveled and covered with square black-and-white tiles. The choice was both practical and visually appealing, since the porcelain tiles, which have a concentric box pattern, require virtually no maintenance and do not require frequent polishing. “We also replaced the slab steps leading up to the elevators and replaced the old handrails with black iron,” she adds. “That played off the new doorframes and gave the steps a wholly different look.”

From end to end. The co-op comprises two six-story buildings that are linked by the lobby, which is long and horizontal and not pleasing to the eye. “But we did have the luxury of a large common space that was not being utilized,” says Sygrove, who carved out rooms at both ends of the lobby. On one side, she installed an attractive mailbox area with slick, shiny black mailboxes, which were deeper to comply with U.S. Postal Service regulations. On the other end, she created a secure package space. “It’s a non-doorman building, so that was very important,” she explains.    “The package area has a locking mechanism that is accessible only to residents, mail-delivery people, and delivery companies like FedEx and UPS.” In addition, both areas have archways leading into them, which were clad in black granite. “That solves the problem of corners and doors getting nicked and damaged by postal-delivery carts,” she says. “And we did the same with the archways leading into the two residential wings, since people have strollers or luggage that can do similar damage.” 

Let there be light. To brighten up the entire space, Sygrove took advantage of the existing ceiling beams to install ambient lighting. Molding was added on all the beams in order to create a cove area where LED strips could be installed but remain unseen. “That eliminated the need for the lamps that had been placed on the mantels of the lobby’s two fireplaces because the co-op was so desperate for light,” she adds. Removing the lamps freed her to use the fireplaces to give the lobby some vertical height to counterbalance the long, horizontal space. “We went out with the client to a marble yard and selected slabs with a very prominent linear pattern and installed them from floor to ceiling, carving out fireplace openings at the bottom,” she explains. “These aren’t functioning fireplaces, but we added decorative screens in front of them as an added visual element.”

Center of attraction. There was a fat support column smack-dab in the middle of the lobby, a design element that Sygrove turned into an asset. Rather than ignoring it, she built a circular banquette around the column and covered the remaining part with fluted mirrors. “When I think of art deco, I think of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing on a cruise ship or something exotic like that,” she says. “There’s a glamorous feeling about it. The fluted mirror was just that little icing on the cake.” The entire project, which included a hallway renovation as well, was considered money well spent — and a long-term investment, Sygrove adds. “The co-op was really dedicated to bringing their building out of the dungeon — as well as increasing the value of their property.”