Step Inside the Central Park Home of Actress Lois Robbins
The apartment’s design, by Anthony Ingrao and Randy Kemper, is enough to rival its stunning views
When film, television, and theater actor Lois Robbins and her husband, financier Andrew Zaro, first moved into their brand-new Central Park–adjacent apartment, their dream pad was still somewhat of a hazy vision. To put it bluntly, says Robbins, “It was a very beautiful college dormitory with lots of rented furniture.”
The couple lived in the home for a time as it was, just to get a sense of the space. “I think it’s really great when you can live somewhere before you decide on a design,” Robbins says. “One thing became apparent: The views are so spectacular, I wanted to take advantage of them from every room.” They enlisted architect Andrea Miranda to further open up the living areas so they could inhale more of the incredible light from the full-bleed windows on display into adjoining spaces. “We opened up the walls between the living room and the dining room, as well as the walls between the living room and the den,” Robbins explains. “If we are sitting in the dining room or den, we can still completely enjoy the views.”
“For us, this is a luxurious pied-à-terre,” Robbins says of the project. “We had decided on really doing [it] for us, as our last child has left for college.” That meant bringing on the interior design team of Anthony Ingrao and Randy Kemper, whom Robbins had admired for some time. “They really listen to their client,” Robbins adds. “They let me have enormous input.”
The couple’s brief: to make every room feel beautiful yet comfortable, inviting, and warm. The ability to readily entertain, even in such opulent and art-filled surroundings, was paramount. (In one instance, a Wayne Thiebaud painting in one hanging-out room raises up to reveal a television—perfect for Oscars-viewing parties, Robbins says.) “They don’t like super minimal,” Kemper says. “They like things to feel luxurious. Still, we all wanted to take this very grand space in a very glamorous building and not let it seem so formal and stodgy. More earthbound and comfortable, less slick and fancy.”
Where to begin? While the family has residences in Los Angeles, Miami, and the Hamptons, there were no furniture transfers made. “It was an incredible shopping spree,” says Robbins. “The only thing that came with us is the artwork—which looks so much better in this space than it ever did. I have to say, I’ve never had so much fun.”
The couple has a consequential collection of more than 100 artworks, mostly hyperreal or abstract works by eminent modern artists. It would certainly be tempting to fashion the apartment like a gallery. “We treated each of the rooms individually and didn’t fully consider the art collection when we were doing backgrounds,” Kemper says. “We aimed to treat all the rooms as elegantly as possible, where art only added to the luster.”
Says Ingrao of their clients, “They were more traditional in the beginning, and that slowly changed.” Kemper elaborates, “[Robbins’s] interest in artisans and the people who are making contemporary furniture right now grew, and that changed her focus…to something more evolved and current. The thing about Lois is that she’s such an exuberant and passionate person. She loves the arts, she loves music, she loves design. When we decided to go into this more contemporary direction, she went full throttle.” As a result, each room pulses with textures and organic shapes.
The group quickly bonded over the bold choice to go with burgundy-lacquered walls in the den. “I said, ‘Let’s give that room a lot of warmth,’ and they thought it was a great idea,” Robbins recalls. The designers, who had originally presented a sky blue for the same room’s walls, asked Robbins what her favorite color was. “She said, ‘Well I think I look awesome in Bordeaux, so we said, then let’s make sure the room is awesome,” Kemper recalls.
Still, it’s what’s outside their home that continues to leave the couple breathless. “I will never take these views for granted or get tired of it,” Robbins says. “I can see people skating in the wintertime or just on the lawn at Strawberry Fields. You feel so part of Manhattan, looking out and seeing what everyone is doing. It’s pretty spectacular.”
One of the bigger design challenges was the central living room, with its three walls of glass. “The furniture had to float,” says Lois Robbins, pictured here in front of Cecily Brown’s A New Face in Hell. “There are not really walls, but [the designers] made it feel grounded. The way they placed my Mattia Bonetti coffee table, the Lake Como table, and the curve of that table against the curve of the sofa in front of it.” Adds Randy Kemper: “We had to balance the breadth of the view and still leave you feeling like you’re in a relatively cozy environment.”
The furniture—undulating and spherical—includes a Baby Bear chair by Pierre Yovanovitch and a bronze and acrylic table by Mattia Bonetti called Lake Como. Antonia, a digital animated work by Juilan Opie, stands guard at the entrance.
A trio of Jeff Zimmerman illuminated Vine sculptures climb across the ceiling. Says Kemper, “The spaces are so big and elongated—they want this horizontality to them. You couldn’t get that with a traditional pendant hanging in the middle of the room.”
The actor stands at the entrance to the home’s den. Burgundy lacquer walls are meant to embrace guests with rich warmth. Tom Wesselmann’s Claire 2/21/97 perches above the mantle. A ceramic work by Reinaldo Sanguino sits on a low table by Stefan Rurak.
Robert Longo’s Starfield #2 hangs above a custom sofa. The Arbatax lounge chairs are by Fernando Mendes. The table is made of steel, concrete, paint—and yes, 24-karat gold.
“I’m an actor and a singer, and I love parties where we do sing-alongs,” Robbins says of her desire to deck out the apartment with all sorts of entertaining amenities, such as a piano and a wet bar.
Blumenstilleben No. 52 by Anton Henning is the star attraction of this powder room.
A dining room with two distinct seating areas. The longer Noa table is by Elizabeth Garouste, while the Brown Bean dining chairs are by Chahan. A Paul Evans olive burl cabinet makes for a showpiece stage worthy of the painting above it: Mickalene Thomas’s Qusuquzah Lounging with Pink + Black Flower. The chandelier is a work by Ted Abramczyk.
One seating nook, which is makes for the perfect breakfast perch.
“It really is amazing,” Robbins says of the apartment’s iconic views. “I will never get tired of it.”
The custom bed, in Chapas Textiles fabric, includes a TV lift. Custom bedding from E. Braun & Co. is paired with a Jean-François Lesage embroidered pillow. Mathieu Lehanneur’s Spring lamp anchors a floating desk. Lindsey Adelman’s Cherry Bomb Cage chandelier hovers over the room.
“We don’t share a bathroom,” Robbins says of her and her husband’s primary suite. “I am a real bath girl. It’s just wonderful to have the luxury of space to accommodate something like that.”
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