In-Joke

Is it rude to open the refrigerator of someone else’s home? was my first thought upon entering a luxury apartment at One Wall Street, where I found people peeking in drawers, opening closed doors, and photographing bathrooms. In the living room, what resembled a flank trimmed from the Panorama of the City of New York hung above the couch, opposite a large scale model where I might have otherwise expected a television—this couldn’t be someone’s home. And it wasn’t. “I just made up a client in my head,” said Elizabeth Graziolo of Yellow House Architects about the design the showcase residence in the historic Art Deco office turned residential building. Imagining a husband and wife who enjoy cocktails after dinner, Graziolo designed a sleek library with suede walls; the couple’s child (“not a kid, but a teenager”) inspired the bedroom featuring a tween-sized leather giraffe and other precocious signifiers. For one night only, the actually occupant-less apartment doubled as an intimate venue, where Graziolo and Madame Architect founder, Julia Gamolina, sat on a cashew-shaped couch and swapped career advice. After much discourse on a color personality test (Graziolo, fittingly, is a yellow), Graziolo discussed her professional trajectory: making partner at Peter Pennoyer Architects, where for more than seventeen years she practiced in a classical idiom, before setting out on her own in an attempt to meld classicism with modern design approaches. She explained that just as the rigid stone on One Wall Street’s exterior cascades “like drapery” so did the model residence blend rigidity and softness. Afterward, guests were allowed to roam the unit once more. I took a cue from the others and opened a hallway closet, inside of which were several yellow shirts resting on yellow hangers. “Ah, so you’ve seen our joke,” Graziolo announced from behind.