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A f e w y e a r s a g o , d e s i g n e r D a v i d Kleinberg threw a house party at his new Upper East Side apartment in New York City. Real estate being a rare commodity in Manhattan, his purchase of a two- bedroom 1925-era residence in one of the city's most coveted neighborhoods was reason to celebrate. He remembers the moment when longtime client and friend Nicola Marcus walked in and looked around. The first words out of her mouth weren't hello, but a joking expletive. "This is exactly what I've been looking for and haven't been able to find," Nicola said, surveying the apartment's well-bred elaborate millwork, marble fireplaces, and high ceilings. Nicola and her husband, Jeffrey Marcus — the cable TV magnate who made news in 1998 when he sold his Dallas-headquartered Marcus Cable for $3.3 billion — already owned palatial homes in Palm Beach and Aspen, both of which Kleinberg had decorated. Jeff, now a partner in a New York-based pri- vate equity firm, needed a pied-à-terre for business jaunts to the city. For years, the couple made do with rentals and hotels, and after an exhaustive search of more than 50 apartments, they had all but given up on finding anything with personality. Most small apartments in the area, Nicola says, were bland and cookie-cutter. Seeing Kleinberg's charm- ing apartment sparked new interest. "Who sold you this apartment?" she asked. As fate would have it, Kleinberg's real estate agent was at the party that night, and her host walked her across the room to meet him. "I told [the agent] to let me know if he ever found anything similar to David's," Nicola says. "Sure enough, two or three months later, he called." The timing was perfect, as the couple was already en route to New York. When they landed, Jeff headed to work while Nicola met the agent at the Park Avenue apartment. She took one look at its tall, carved-plaster ceilings, original oak pan- eling, and wood-burning fireplace, and exclaimed, "This is it!" Then she rang Jeff on his cellphone. "I'm in a meeting," he whispered. But Nicola insisted, "Just tell them you'll be back in 10 minutes." Jeff made an excuse and dashed over. "Happy wife, happy life," he says with a laugh. The apartment, which had been owned by the same woman for 50 years, was in estate condition — which is code for needing lots of work. "We could see the potential," Jeff says. It was a small apartment, yes, but it had the kind of architectural details usually found in much grander spaces. It was perfect. "When I got back to the office, everyone wanted to know if everything was okay," Jeff says. "I told them, 'Yeah, it's great … We just bought an apartment.'" D esigned in 1917 by archi- tect James Edwin Ruthven Carpenter — also known as J.E.R. Carpenter — the 12-story building is an el- egant example of the structures that define Park and Upper Fifth avenues. Carpenter and revered architect Rosario Candela were the leading architects of Manhattan's earliest luxury residential high-rises. Over the past century, their buildings have been home to Ameri- can aristocracy — early industry and banking magnates, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and current-day social elite and hedge-fund moguls. The most opulent residences originally encompassed entire floors, with multiple bedrooms, but- lers' and servants' quarters, galleries, reception rooms, and wine closets. The Marcus' fifth-floor apartment on Park Avenue is one of three units converted in 1952 from a former 17-room full-floor residence. In fact, their oak-paneled living room was once a grand library. "Nicola and Jeff were clear that they wanted a very compact, true pied- à-terre, but with lots of architectural interest," says Kleinberg, who, along with design partner Lance Scott, has 55 BY REBECCA SHERMAN. PHOTOGRAPHY TRIA GIOVAN. INTERIOR DESIGN DAVID KLEINBERG DESIGN ASSOCIATES. ART DIRECTOR MICHELLE AVIÑA. (continued on page 58)