E 78th St, New York, NY

This 8,000 sq.ft., five-bedroom townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side was renovated for art dealer Christophe Van de Weghe and his wife, Anne-Gaëlle. Originally built in 1887, the five-story structure had been stripped of its historic detail. Purchased mid-restoration, the home was essentially a façade and a shell. The couple enlisted architect Annabelle Selldorf and designer Francis D’Haene to reimagine it as a modern, art-filled residence.

Selldorf’s interventions focused on enhancing light, flow, and vertical circulation. The rear façade was replaced with full-height sliding glass walls, ceiling heights were increased by raising the roofline and deepening the garden level, and a sculptural white oak staircase, crowned by a tortoiseshell-patterned skylight.

D’Haene curated vintage and contemporary furnishings to complement the couple’s collection of modern and postwar art, including works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Alexander Calder, Andy Warhol, Lucio Fontana, and Cindy Sherman. Materials are tactile and restrained: marble in the baths, stained oak in the master suite, and Castel and Donghia textiles in family spaces. Wide-plank flooring and custom millwork unify the interiors.

Each space reflects the couple’s connection to art and design. In the library, Jean-Michel Frank chairs, a Perriand daybed, and a Prouvé table accompany works by de Kooning, Kline, and a rare suite of Warhol Polaroids. Elsewhere, furnishings by Martin Székely, Paul Evans, Gino Sarfatti, and Vladimir Kagan sit in dialogue with the collection. A Prouvé desk, acquired years before the designer’s rise in popularity, anchors the parlor-level office.