Design Solutions for Studio Apartments
Clever design makes a tiny New York City studio seem downright spacious
Although stock trader Chris Menrad spends most of his time in his native Southern California, "I had always wanted a piece of New York," he says. He owned a modern home in Laguna Beach and a midcentury place in Palm Springs, but yearned for a bit of Manhattan's "prewar charm." In 2001, he found just that in London Terrace Towers in Chelsea -- at its opening in 1931, the world's largest apartment building, with 1,665 units (mostly studios, like the one Menrad bought).
At 550 square feet, his piece of the Big Apple was tiny. "I only spend about a third of the year there, so I didn't need much space," Menrad says. Still, he wanted it to feel spacious and welcoming. "It had to be someplace where I could have people over. I didn't want just a crash pad."
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