A floating staircase of wood, steel, and glass connects the apartment’s upper and lower levels.
Mary Wells Lawrence in 1970
S P O T L I G H T
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You Can See Forever
A storied Park Avenue duplex’s best tales are the ones outside its many windows.
Listing ID: 4363260 $27,950,000 Steven Cohen O: 212.303.5296 M: 917.834.4287 steven.cohen@ elliman.com
by Andrea Bennett
The view from the duplex apartment on the 38th and 39th floors of 515 Park Avenue
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HEN MARY Wells Lawrence bought her 4,920-sq.-ft. duplex apartment at 515 Park Avenue in 2002, it was important to her that it become a social draw. As an advertising pioneer and originator of some of the most memorable ad campaigns of the 20th century, “Much of the work I do requires that I do a lot of entertaining,” says Lawrence, often credited as an inspiration for Mad Men character Peggy Olson. Perhaps buying the most beautiful apartment she had ever seen in New York City had something to do with self-preservation. “People wanted to come to me, so I didn’t
always have to go to them,” she says. And they came: CEOs, politicians, theater directors, actors. “Mike Nichols and Diane [Sawyer, his wife] and a whole group of exciting people all felt at home here.” Lawrence herself imbued the apartment with fizzy New York City energy. Among her recognizable campaigns is “I Love New York,” whose original heart logo drawing by Milton Glaser is in the Museum of Modern Art. It’s not surprising that she chose an apartment with uninterrupted views from the 38th and 39th floors. “I look at Central Park, the river. When Park Avenue is lit for Christmas, it goes forever.” The apartment’s sculptural double-height staircase of steel, glass, and wood separates a formal dining room from a large corner living room. The first level, accessible by private elevator landing, also includes a library, a large kitchen with custom walnut cabinets, a center island, and a butler’s pantry. Each of the four bedrooms upstairs has an en suite bath. Of the apartment’s graciously proportioned rooms, the master bedroom is her favorite. “When you open your eyes in the morning, you can see forever,” says Lawrence, who is selling because she has decamped temporarily to London. “You look out, and New York is yours.”
WELLS LAWRENCE: BETTMANN/GETTY
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The library features floorto-ceiling, riftsawn white oak bookshelves.