They Moved to Sutton Place

The Living Room: “Things we have bought over time have moved with us,” says John Gachot. “And we have gotten really lucky that pieces work together.” A painting by Nancy Lorenz hangs above the fireplace. The two vintage armchairs are from Modernlink, and the black lacquered coffee table and cinnamon velvet sofa are custom Gachot Studios. A vintage Danish side table and ­upholstered round stools are from Maison Gerard. Photo: William Jess Laird

People thought we would move back downtown,” Christine Gachot says, sitting in the living room of the ­Sutton Place apartment she and her husband, John, share with their two sons, Boris and Jack, and Slim, their springer spaniel. ­After all, for 18 years, they had lived in a loft on Bond Street, until they outgrew it during the ­pandemic and did something that probably only two ­designers (they are co-principals of Gachot ­Studios) would think to do: “We took this little ­moment to live in the Paul Rudolph museum,” ­Christine says about having rented the architect’s disco-modernist ­triplex penthouse cantilevered atop an 1867 brownstone at 23 Beekman Place. It’s not actually a museum — if you want that, go to the Metropolitan Museum exhibition on the ­architect through March 16 — but it’s a work of art as much as an apartment: There are endless stairways and ­almost no walls. ­However, with a working fireplace and terraces ­overlooking the East River, it was a great place to throw a party. Back in Rudolph’s day, his bathroom had a glass-bottom tub that could be viewed from the floor below; Christine and John used it as a big ­Champagne bucket. (In any case, they retained their more conventionally livable place on Shelter Island.)

But last year, 23 Beekman was put on the market (you can buy it still for $18.5 ­million), and they had to move out. They had come to love the quiet neigh­borhood with its genteel, full-­service ­apartment houses, and the building on Sutton in which they now rent is a ­perfect specimen, if the opposite of ­Rudolph’s experiments.

“We literally walked in and said, ‘Great, we’ll sign the lease,’ ” says ­Christine. The classic seven has four bedrooms, a wood-burning fireplace, and space for Boris to practice keyboards. “All those things that would perhaps drive other people crazy, like the rattling ­windows original from the ’20s, we love!” she adds, laughing.

Christine and John first moved to New York in the early 1990s — John to pursue art and Christine event planning. They met at Bill Sofield’s studio, where Christine was working in 1996, when John came in to show his work. Some months later, ­Sofield hired John. The couple married in 1999. Christine went on to work for André Balazs and John with Thad Hayes and David Easton before starting Gachot Studios in 2012. They ­recently redesigned the ­patrons’ lounge at the Metropolitan ­Opera (they both love the opera) and are collaborating with Sean MacPherson and developer Richard Born on a new hotel in West Palm Beach.

In their own apartment, nothing is precious and everything is inviting. There’s a mix of custom pieces, such as a cinnamon velvet sofa, and vintage, including Dunbar chairs, and lots of art to shake up the mellow mood, like a gold-tone Nancy Lorenz above the fireplace and a mouthwatering photograph by Marilyn Minter in the entrance hall.

“So many of our young friends and ­designers we know are moving up here,” Christine says. “The scale of the rooms, the spaces, the proper way that these homes are designed, young designers are very ­appreciative of that.”

Which isn’t to say a downtown return isn’t a possibility. “They were wonderful to us,” Christine says of their Bond Street landlords, “and they even said, ‘Look, if this Beekman Place thing doesn’t work out, just call us and come back down.’”

Living Room: The coffee table is by Philip and Kelvin Laverne, the cinnamon velvet sofa is custom Gachot Studios. The vintage wood screen with wavy wood is from Maison Gerard. The floor pillows are from RW Guild. The FA 33 Gio Ponti mirror above the desk on the left is by Gubi. Photo: William Jess Laird

The Dining Room: A Noguchi lamp hangs over the Prouvé table from Vitra. The dining chairs are vintage J39 Peoples Chairs by Børge Mogensen. Two Robert Rauschenberg photo lithographs on paper are on the back wall and the art between the windows is by Esther Stewart. Photo: William Jess Laird

The record player is by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni from Artemest. The sheepskin throw on the floor is from RW Guild. The painting is by Eric Sloane. Photo: William Jess Laird

The Media Room: The Eames swivel chair and ottoman are vintage. The chaise is an Olivier Mourgue Bouloum. The handmade stool is from Maison Gerard. Photo: William Jess Laird

The Kitchen: The Fritz Hansen table is for breakfast and work. The chairs are by Carl Hansen & Søn from DWR. Janette Beckman’s André 3000, OutKast (2003) hangs on the wall above the table. Photo: William Jess Laird

The Study: The desk and lamps are vintage. The desk chair is a Norman Cherner. The art is by Robert Rauschenberg. Photo: William Jess Laird

The Main Bedroom: A tiny red-gold mirror by Nancy Lorenz from Liz O’Brien punctuates the wall over the bed, which was custom designed by Gachot Studios — as was the spread in jute fabric from Zak & Fox. Photo: William Jess Laird

The Foyer: Marilyn Minter’s silk screen Hush (2023) greets visitors on entry. The Clam pendants are by Fritz Hansen from Monc XIII, and the Unique Crumpled sculptural vessel is by Jeff Zimmerman from R & Company. The rug is tribal-weave gabbeh and kilim woven wool by Taher Asad-Bakhtiari from Hostler Burrows. Photo: William Jess Laird

Christine and John Gachot, photographed by the bookcase in the living room. Photo: David Urbanke