Lindye Galloway Reimagines Two Upper West Side Penthouses as One Home

The most telling detail of this Upper West Side penthouse, designed by Lindye Galloway, is not a material or a fixture but a logistics marvel. Almost every large custom piece arrived by crane, lifted over Manhattan and swung into the top floor because the pre-war building’s elevator was too small to contain them.

That single constraint speaks volumes about designing inside New York’s early 20th-century towers, the Emery Roth lineage of thick-walled, generously proportioned apartments that reward ambition and then quietly limit how that ambition physically enters the room. Working on her first New York project, Galloway treated the limitation as a brief rather than an obstacle, committing to bespoke work knowing each element would have to be engineered to navigate through the air.

Modern kitchen with light wood cabinetry, marble countertops, beige upholstered dining bench, wooden chairs, pendant lights, and large windows overlooking city buildings.

Photography by Mike Van Tassell.

Having bought both the penthouse and the floor beneath it, the clients presented a single defining challenge: two stacked units that needed to read as one home for a family with young children. Galloway’s answer runs through the millwork, where consistent custom stains span both stories and the same wood extends from the flooring into the paneling. Marble does similar connective work, appearing as window casings, built-ins, and a carved nook in the primary bath.

A modern living room with neutral tones, two armchairs, a wooden coffee table, a striped rug, built-in cabinets, fireplace, and a large black chandelier.

Photography by Mike Van Tassell.

In the great room, the challenge was defining zones without cluttering the floor with furniture that would compete with the view. Rather than float a dining table, Galloway attached banquette seating directly to the kitchen island, collapsing two functions into one intimate gesture and freeing the rest of the room. Above the seating, a ceiling treatment does a job typically reserved for the rug: drawing an invisible boundary that tells you where one area ends and another begins.

A bright hallway with wood floors, beige walls, skylight, double doors on the left, wall sconces on the right, and a wooden door at the end.

Photography by Mike Van Tassell.

The clustered kitchen pendants are sculptural, and the palette of makers— Apparatus, Allied Maker, alongside custom fixtures—situates the project squarely within contemporary American craft. Apparatus brings a moody, deco-inflected richness, while Allied Maker offers a quieter, handmade clarity. In the bathrooms, Famosa tile and natural veining aim for something spa-like and organic, warmth pulled from stone rather than color.