Could a turn-of-the-century mansion be the cradle of retail’s next gilded age? Fashion designer Adam Lippes thinks so. Built in 1896 for coal magnate Edward J. Berwind, the storied property at 828 Fifth Avenue that now holds Lippes’s New York City flagship comes with the social pedigree to match. The Cuban-born American fashion designer Adolfo, who dressed Nancy Reagan, lived there. Alberto Pinto, the late Parisian interior designer, combined three floors into a lavishly decorated triplex. Legend has it Donna Summer once called it home.
Lippes first came across the space virtually in 2018, but he didn’t see the building, which presides over Central Park at 64th Street, in person until last year. He was scouting apartments on the Upper East Side and noticed the listing; he realized the photos were the same as ones he had seen years earlier. It felt like kismet. Lippes rented two spaces on the ground floor. One holds his flagship, and he will move into the other unit across the hall later this year.
Lippes designed the space with former model Pilar Solchaga. The walls are covered in a custom silk faille color-matched to the ceiling color. The chandeliers and sconces are original and the building’s late-19th-century bronze trim and millwork are intact.
In the appointment-only salon the walls are sheathed in a silk faille color-matched to Farrow & Ball’s Setting Plaster, a Lippes store signature. He collaborated on the decor with Pilar Solchaga, his former fit model who is now an interior designer. Everything in the store is for sale, from the clothing to the custom furniture to the antiques. Clients might try on a striped shirtdress and walk out with a pair of Baccarat vases. “They have a glass of champagne. They make calls,” Lippes says. “The woman who wears these clothes would live here.”
This story originally appeared in the March 2025 issue of Elle Decor. SUBSCRIBE
Sean Santiago is ELLE Decor’s Deputy Editor, covering news, trends and talents in interior design, hospitality and travel, culture, and luxury shopping. Since starting his career at an interior design firm in 2011, he has gone on to cover the industry for Vogue, Architectural Digest, Sight Unseen, PIN-UP and Domino. He is the author of The Lonny Home (Weldon Owens, 2018), has produced scripted social content for brands including West Elm and Streeteasy, and is sometimes recognized on the street for his Instagram Reels series, #DanceToDecor