Center City Penthouse

CBP Architects designed a three-level Center City penthouse renovation with clean lines to accentuate the unit’s dramatic two-story main living area. Warm woods and highly crafted casework juxtapose natural stone and sculptural fixtures. Every detail throughout the residence was carefully considered to suit the owners’ daily living and entertaining styles.

The client couple divide time between Philadelphia and France. They initially engaged CBP to evaluate their former Philadelphia home for a potential renovation. After exploring options, they purchased the penthouse instead. The three-level plan includes a main living floor, central glass-clad mezzanine, and an upper level adjacent to a rooftop terrace. A stark white palette, open mezzanine, and lack of wall space prompted a redesign which enabled his-and-her offices, a powder room, and better overall plan functionality. New opaque and glass walls replace some of the mezzanine open rails, for more privacy and better display of the owners’ art and travel photography, and custom cabinetry such as the built-in bar and reconfigured kitchen accommodate large-scale entertaining. Careful acoustic controls enable the audiophiles’ separate listening, while extensive home automation facilitates remote controls of climate and lighting. Attention to detail included fireplaces reclad in travertine and quartz, a central structural column accentuated with artisan marbleized finish, new white oak floors, and the careful editing of air returns and utility chases for clean, uniform ceilings and walls. A custom banquette conceals building piping mains in the third-level entertaining space. This newly imagined room exhibits a jazz theme highlighted by a Warren Muller sculptural light fixture.