When the fashion for loft living made it to these shores in the early Nineties, Ian Tarr was one of the first to embrace it, working with Nico Rensch of Architeam architects to turn his flat in Soho, Central London, into a New York-style open-plan apartment. Fourteen years later, when Tarr bought a second home, an empty warehouse space in SoHo in New York, he turned once again to Rensch, but this time they looked to the East for inspiration.
Tarr’s work as head of a scientific database company has taken him many times to Japan, and over the years he has amassed an enviable collection of Japanese pottery, including the work of Nakajima and Sakai Hiroshi. It is the simplicity of that country’s traditional design that has informed the look of his apartment.
Part of his ceramics collection is on display in the double-height main room. It looms above a sunken dining table, which can be elevated by a remote-controlled hydraulic lift to allow guests easy access to the cushion seats.
In the main bedroom the bed is also sunken, and on either side are shoji-inspired screen doors, one concealing a dressing room and the other a grey, stone-clad bathroom. “The shower head is of such a size that it has had to be categorised as a water feature to comply with planning regulations,” says Tarr.
Planning regulations were also indirectly responsible for the Zen-like garden. “I wanted to create a mezzanine level for my study but it would have brought the volume of habitable living space above the permitted amount, so we opened up a section of roof between the living room and bedroom. That allowed us to add to the internal development,” says Tarr.
Advertisement
The new section became a garden with a weeping cherry tree and ground cover of Scottish pebbles and, although enclosed within glass walls, the top is open to the skies. “It looks pretty at night, especially in winter when it snows, the background is dark and the light from inside illuminates the flakes,” says Tarr.
To balance the glass box containing the garden, Tarr and Rensch put the kitchen in a similar transparent cube, and because the kitchen is clearly visible from the sitting area, the storage units and kitchen equipment can all be concealed behind doors that slide neatly into side panels when not in use.
“When I moved in, all I brought with me were my pots and some kitchenware,” says Tarr. “I grew up in southwest Wales, where my parents had a furniture store, and I was always interested in the construction, shape and finish of things. So when it came to furnishing the apartment, I commissioned most of the pieces so that I could be involved in the whole design and construction process.”
The long sofas covered in buttermilk leather with chocolate suede cushions are made to measure, as are the ebonised larch units and tables. Among the few pieces not tailor-made are the round leather ottomans by Poltrona Frau and the patchwork rug made from strips of coloured hide.
Although there are many surprise elements in this apartment, from hydraulic tables and sunken beds to concealed doors and water-feature showers, perhaps the most unexpected is not inside but out. As you walk up the stairs, which are hidden behind the stucco-finished wall backing Tarr’s long desk, you find a rooftop room, with an outdoor kitchen and a view of the uptown skyline. “This space was only accessible by ladder and bisected by the old skylights, so we added the staircase and, with the inner garden light, the skylights were superfluous, so this garden became possible,” says Tarr. “It gets hot up here in the summer, so we had to build a shaded pergola area.”
Advertisement
It is up here, among the bamboo and tropical greenery, that Tarr’s new neighbour has moved in, a mockingbird that imitates the sounds of car alarms and police sirens. A useful reminder, in case you were in any doubt, that you are still in the heart of New York.
architeam.co.uk