{"id":95945,"date":"2026-01-10T19:21:29","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T19:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/95945\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T19:21:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T19:21:29","slug":"the-palazzo-on-beekman-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/95945\/","title":{"rendered":"The Palazzo on Beekman Place"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Great Rooms<\/a><\/p>\n

\n A visual diary by Design Editor Wendy Goodman.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Living Room The tapestries are from an antiques shop in Amsterdam and were framed at Eli Wilner & Company. The pair of Louis XVI chairs are from Silla Antiques & Art in Pennsylvania. The pelmet was found at an Upper East Side antiques show. \u201cThe coffee table was left by the previous owner,\u201d Sandra Liotus says.
\n Photo: William Jess Laird\n <\/p>\n

Sandra Liotus and her partner, David Crampton-Barden, live in a 1925 building on Beekman Place that was designed to resemble a Venetian palace. The architects William Treanor and Maurice Fatio even treated the East River as the Grand Canal, adding a private dock for residents to moor their boats.<\/p>\n

By the time Liotus, an American lighting designer, and Crampton-Barden, a British lighting engineer, moved into the co-op in 2013, the waterfront features were long gone. But the Italianate courtyard garden remained, and they have direct access to it from their one-bedroom pied-\u00e0-terre.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith everything found or displayed, I ask myself, Is this something that Isabella Stewart Gardner would have collected?\u201d Liotus says, referring to the Boston socialite with the Venice fixation.<\/p>\n

Liotus and Crampton-Barden decorated the living room with tapestries and 18th- and 19th-century art and furniture. As the owners of a bespoke lighting company<\/a> based in Newport, Rhode Island, where they spend most of their time, they are experts in the unique needs of historic homes and buildings filled with light-sensitive canvases, fabrics, and objects.<\/p>\n

Among their first commissions were the Houghton Library at Harvard and the model cases at the New York Yacht Club, which led to work for the late financier David Rockefeller Sr., whose East 65th Street townhouse was originally designed by Treanor & Fatio.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started in 2001 lighting his Picasso, Young Girl With a Flower Basket, which had belonged to Gertrude Stein,\u201d says Liotus. \u201cWe then moved on to the living room, lighting one great masterpiece after another.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Beekman Place, Liotus and Crampton-Barden\u2019s artworks are illuminated by glass fiber-optic cables discreetly tucked into the ceiling that use camera-quality lenses and don\u2019t emit heat or ultraviolet radiation. \u201cThere used to be six prints here,\u201d Liotus says, pointing to a wall with framed tapestries. \u201cThe fittings were lighting the prints. By just changing the lensing, we could transfer the light onto the tapestries.\u201d<\/p>\n

But not all the light in the space is artificial. During the winter, the two of them enjoy serving high tea and sandwiches in front of a fire, and, when it\u2019s warm, they crack open the front door and windows to let in the breeze from the river.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n The Dining Area The gateleg table is from an antique shop in Massachusetts. The candlesticks are from the Lacquer Chest in London. The wooden box with the tapestry fragment is from San Francisco. \u201cThe painted tray I brought back from Venice,\u201d Liotus says.
\n Photo: William Jess Laird\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n The Hallway The doorframe is draped with fabric from the Venice shop Ca\u2019 Nova Tessuti e Tendaggi. The tapestry chair is from the Newport Show.
\n Photo: William Jess Laird\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n The Artwork The ceramic piece is in the style of Luca della Robbia.
\n Photo: William Jess Laird\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n The Kitchen The millwork was in place when Liotus and her partner, David Crampton-Barden, found the apartment, as was the grass-cloth wallcovering in the living room.
\n Photo: William Jess Laird\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n The Work Area \u201cWe found the desk at an antiques shop online. I found the bench at Ballard Designs, and I have an antique rug on top,\u201d Liotus says.
\n Photo: William Jess Laird\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n The Bedroom \u201cThe chandelier was left in the apartment,\u201d Liotus says. \u201cI added the two antiques cherubs I found at an antiques shop in Pittsburgh.\u201d The duvet cover was custom designed.
\n Photo: William Jess Laird\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n The Entrance The wrought-iron door with Venetian-style glass is original to the building. \u201cThe knocker with the dolphins was something we put in, in keeping with the Venetian design,\u201d \u00adLiotus says.
\n Photo: William Jess Laird\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n The Courtyard Liotus and Crampton-Barden. Their 1925 building was designed with a courtyard garden, instead of a lobby entrance (a rarity in New York), that\u2019s planted with boxwoods and Japanese maples. The co-op\u2019s private dock was torn down for construction of the FDR Drive in the 1930s.
\n Photo: William Jess Laird\n <\/p>\n

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\n If you prefer to read in print, you can also find this article in the January 12, 2026, issue of
\n New York\u00a0Magazine.<\/p>\n

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\n New York Magazine.<\/p>\n

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