New York’s Art Deco Red Room to open after $1m restoration

The Art Deco Red Room in New York’s largest office-to-condominium conversion project, One Wall Street, will soon open to the public for the first time since 2001.

The previously hidden banking hall of the Irving Trust Building has been transformed into a retail space by Macklowe Properties.

The Red Room’s history dates back to 1929, when Hildreth Meire was commissioned to design a private reception area for banking clients. And in doing so, she helped introduced New York to the modernism of Art Deco.

Meire designed a triple-height floor-to-ceiling mosaic in ox-blood reds, oranges and gold-leafed tesserae.

This has been carefully restored by the property developer, which spent $1 on the renovation.

Tiles have been cleaned with non-abrasive solutions to maintain their original quality. The extensive renovation has also removed all faux ceiling covers to open up the impressive void space.

The building was designed by Ralph Walker, named by the New York Times as one of the architects of the century. It was built in 1931 amd One Wall Street was acquired by real estate developer Macklowe Properties in 2014.

Representatives of Macklowe Properties claim the project is the largest office to residential conversion in the history of New York.