Rushing to the bank to close the deal while preparing for the Met Gala, interviews with the co-op board, decorating tips from the editor of Architectural Digest; it might sound like a script for a New York-set TV show on buying a home, but it’s real life for Cork woman Samantha Barry. As global executive editor of Glamour, Barry is one of the best-known media people in the United States.
Arriving first in New York in 2014 to work with CNN, Barry had previously worked with RTÉ in Dublin and the BBC in London. She was then headhunted by famed former Vogue editor Anna Wintour for the role of executive-in-chief at Glamour magazine. She has since been appointed global executive director. It’s a busy and varied role, which encompasses the US, UK, Mexico, Latin America, Spain and Germany.
When she first moved stateside, Barry’s New York apartment was on 12th and Broadway, across from the famed Strand bookstore, “which I loved”. She then moved to Chelsea, so when she decided to buy a couple of years ago, she was keen to stay in Manhattan.
“I knew going into the apartment-buying process there were a couple of things I really wanted,” she recalls. “I knew I needed to be able to walk to work – even if it took an hour – and I really wanted a working fireplace.”
She realised the latter was an unusual request, and wasn’t going to be overly tied to it, but her ship came in when her broker – yes, in New York, you must have a broker representing you – found a pre-war Art Deco co-op building, with an all-important working fireplace.
Finding the one-bed apartment came after about three months of Saturdays and Sundays spent looking at apartments around the city.
None quite fitted the bill: sometimes the apartment was right, but the neighbourhood wasn’t. Other times it was the opposite.
“But with this one, I found everything. I fell in love with the apartment when I walked in,” she says. “I could instantly see myself living there,” she adds, recalling the appeal of the banquette at the end of the galley kitchen.
It was in Gramercy; downtown, with some uptown sensibilities, the neighbourhood’s tree-lined streets lie to the east of the city, generally between 14th and 23rd street.
Sam Barry spent three months home hunting before finally settling on the one-bed apartment. Photograph: Timothy O’Connell
On the third floor of the building, the apartment is at tree level, “So it feels like you’re in the trees a little bit,” she says.
It’s also facing a church, “which means I’ll never be surrounded by construction”.
Acquiring it wasn’t all plain sailing, however.
“I remember very vividly, I put an offer in and someone was trying to outbid me”.
So, Barry used the tools of her trade and wrote a letter to the owners to say how much she loved the apartment. “They had an Irish last name, so I thought that might help me.”
It did, and she secured the apartment. But then, in true New York fashion, another obstacle arose.
She was getting glammed up for the city’s Met Gala, where the stars of the fashion world collide with Hollywood celebrities, when she got a call from her broker – she needed to close the deal, or she’d lose the apartment.
A touch of elegance in Sam Barry’s home. Photograph: Timothy O’Connell
“So, I had to run off to the bank and put the down payment in,” she recalls. “It was such a big, busy day”.
Acquiring an apartment in New York is not only about having the funds to buy – some buildings are run by co-ops, which means that when you buy, you become a shareholder in the corporation that owns your building.
This meant that as part of the process, Barry had to get approved by her building’s co-op board. “You give away so much information to be accepted,” she says.
Once the sale was completed, Barry could then think about decorating it.
Working in one of the world’s largest magazine companies, Condé Nast, has its advantages when it comes to finding an interior designer. Barry went straight to Amy Astley, editor of Architectural Digest, to chat about interiors. On her advice, she then decided to hire designer Matt McKay to create her vision for the space, which included channelling apartments she’d seen in Nora Ephron movies, such as Meg Ryan’s apartment in You’ve Got Mail.
Sam Barry’s home in New York City. Photograph: Timothy O’Connell
Clean lines and a Scandi chic aesthetic were not for her.
“I wanted texture, but not maximalism … the opposite of simplicity,” she says, pointing to the Ralph Lauren check fabric used on a daybed in the livingroom as an example.
There is also lots of pattern and texture throughout the rest of the apartment. In the bedroom, a wallpaper of lilac branches in bloom from Pierre Frey is paired with matching curtains, while rugs – including a 1930s one, sourced from New York dealer Doris Leslie Blau – and throws, are used to amp up the cosiness.
The fireplace has been a big hit.
“It’s really quite charming – I don’t mind winters in New York now,” she says. “It’s so beautiful and special to have.”
But there are some challenges to keeping a fire going in the city, so she now has a “wood woman”, who delivers fuel to keep it going.
A literary flourish draws the eye. Photograph: Timothy O’Connell
The only thing she changed structurally in the apartment was to add two big built-in bookshelves. “I knew I wanted to be in a place surrounded by books,” she says.
Other touches include a daybed by the window overlooking the trees, a Samsung Frame TV – “I love a big TV but didn’t want it to look like a big TV” – and the banquette that first caught her eye, upholstered in a sunny fabric with lemon-patterned wallpaper behind.
“It’s a really important corner of the apartment,” she says.
She also added some Irish touches. She bought some “beautiful things” from a friend’s homeware shop, Irving Green, in the nearby East Village, as well as Foxford blankets, Irish authors on the bookshelves, and a piece of art from her brother, who lives in Killarney.
When home on a visit, she rifled through her parents’ old photograph albums, selecting pictures she then set in little frames.
The apartment is near Gramercy Park, an exclusive green area in the heart of the city, which has been locked since 1844 – it’s reported that only 383 of these keys exist, primarily held by the residents of surrounding town houses and apartments.
Ownership of her apartment did not bestow such a treasure, “but it’s part of my routine, I love to look at it,” she says. “I love my building, I love the doormen, and where it is.”
She watched the recent Oscars at home, chatting with her colleagues on Slack, and was delighted when Jessie Buckley won. “My colleagues thought it was so lovely how proud Irish people are of other Irish people”.
Sam Barry’s New York neighbourhood
Drinks
Banshee, 143 1st Avenue: Guinness, oysters and toasties at this new East Village bar
Pete’s Tavern: For an old-school pint
Seahorse, W Hotel, 201 Park Avenue South: Cocktails and views
Barfly, 244 3rd Avenue: A sports bar owned by a Cork woman, where Barry watched the Super Bowl
Food
Hawksmoor Steakhouse in New York.
Hawksmoor NYC, 109 E 22nd St: Good for a Sunday roast
Borgo, 124, E27th St: “The food is spectacular, the team is amazing and I’d highly recommend.”
Gramercy Tavern, 42 E20th St: Burgers and cocktails “for a very New York moment”
And further afield …
Wolf, Nordstrom, 225 57th St: “If you’re going for a midtown shop, this is an undiscovered gem. It has the best salad -the Wolf – I’ve ever had.”
Shopping
Irving Green, 321 E9th St: For homeware and gifts with a touch of Irish charm
Longford-born Maura Higgins was recently interviewed by the publication on her role in the US version of The Traitors – “there’s always a home for them at Glamour,” says Barry of Irish stars.
While Glamour is now only printed for special editions in the US, Germany still publishes a print magazine. And while Barry’s role has moved on from her days as a journalist, she still gets to ask the questions sometimes – she recently interviewed children’s entertainer and activist Miss Rachel, a Glamour Woman of the Year – “but I don’t get to do it as much as I’d like”.
She’s proud of Glamour’s commitment to covering recent political developments in the US; in the aftermath of the Minnesota/Ice demonstrations, for example, the magazine sent a photojournalist to cover the story.
Working in the glamorous world of New York publishing, she must be sick of The Devil Wears Prada comparisons?
Sam Barry on the Oscars: ‘My colleagues thought it was so lovely how proud Irish people are of other Irish people.’ Photograph: Timothy O’Connell
Her 13-year-old niece watched the movie for the first time recently and was keen to know the reality – Barry told her there are “glimpses” of her world in it. She is, however, excited for the upcoming sequel, due to be released in May.
“I’ve been absolutely loving every snippet of a trailer I see,” she says, “I cannot wait to see what they’ve done … I want to see the clothes, I want to see the outfits.”
But it’s not all glamour; when we speak, Barry is hoping to knock off work early to meet friends in an East Village bar to watch the all-important Czech Republic vs Ireland match. And then, presumably, after that penalty shoot-out, drown her sorrows like the rest of us.
With such a hectic schedule, Saturday mornings are her serene times, when she can fully enjoy her home. “My weeks are so busy, my evenings are so busy,” she says, adding that she finds joy in spending time in her apartment.
She gets The New York Times, goes out for a coffee, and comes home, where she puts a record on and relaxes.
“This is my place, it’s my sanctuary,” she says, “It’s my little part of Manhattan”.
At home with Sam Barry in New York City. Photos by Timothy O’Connell for The Irish Times 
At home with Sam Barry in New York City. Photos by Timothy O’Connell for The Irish Times At home with Sam Barry in New York City. Photos by Timothy O’Connell for The Irish Times 
At home with Sam Barry in New York City. Photos by Timothy O’Connell for The Irish Times 
At home with Sam Barry in New York City. Photos by Timothy O’Connell for The Irish Times 
At home with Sam Barry in New York City. Photos by Timothy O’Connell for The Irish Times 
At home with Sam Barry in New York City. Photos by Timothy O’Connell for The Irish Times