The New York Times-20080127-Bubble-Gum Pink To a Restful Beige

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Bubble-Gum Pink To a Restful Beige

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I COULD have been Liberace's daughter, said Betsy Sue Kleban Rathe during a tour of her apartment.

She was alluding to her taste for crystal chandeliers and zebra-striped upholstery. But in her latest apartment, the decor is relatively sedate, thanks to the input of Henning Meisner, an interior designer.

Mrs. Rathe and her husband, Richard, hired Mr. Meisner of Alveary Architecture in Chelsea to help reconcile her taste -- which she describes as bling -- and his taste, which extends to Bauhaus.

Much of the place is beige, which Mrs. Rathe (pronounced wrath) admits isn't her favorite color. All I could think was, 'I am going to be in a beige casket for a long time when I die.' Until then, she said, I like to be surrounded by bright colors.

But her husband wanted something less startling than the bubble-gum pink walls of their previous apartment, and they decided to defer to Mr. Meisner.

I learned a lot from Henning, Mrs. Rathe said, I've got to give him credit. Because I'm not easy to teach.

Mr. Meisner had a good canvas to work on. The condominium, with 13-foot ceilings and French doors the size of swimming pools, sprawls over more than 3,000 square feet of the neo-Classical-style bank building between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenues and 73rd and 74th Streets.

Known as the Central Bank Building when it opened in 1928, it was designed by York & Sawyer, the firm also responsible for the Federal Reserve Bank in Lower Manhattan. It is now known as the Apple Bank Building, after the current occupant of the barrel-vaulted banking hall.

In the Rathe apartment, nine-foot-high windows face the Ansonia, the fabled apartment building across Broadway. Its facade is so ornate, the effect is like looking out at flocked wallpaper.

Which is fine with the Rathes, who have a well-honed taste for luxury.

Mr. Rathe, 59, is an owner of the Gotham Bar and Grill, the downtown restaurant. He is also a real estate developer and a principal in the Jack Russell Group, which designs and builds trade exhibitions.

For years, Mr. Rathe was a partner with his brother, Robert, in Rathe Productions, which was founded in 1947 by their father, Fred, a former Macy's display designer. That company built exhibitions at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

Mrs. Rathe, 51, has the title of creative consultant at Kleban Properties, a Connecticut real estate company founded by her father, Albert J. Kleban. The Rathes' two daughters, Emma and Montana, are both students at the University of Pennsylvania.

During a tour of the apartment, Mrs. Rathe explained that the kitchen is small for a good reason. This is how I cook, she said, reaching for the phone and pretending to dial.

Besides, she said, we couldn't make the kitchen bigger, because we needed room for this. She opened a door and revealed a treadmill and an elliptical trainer.

Her husband does like to cook, he said, but is content to do so in their much larger kitchen in Water Mill, on Long Island. Mr. Rathe keeps a Ferrari in the garage there. It's a very bling statement, said his wife, chiding her husband for what she calls his double standard.

Mr. Rathe grew up in Manhattan and bought his first apartment 25 years ago. That place, on East 86th Street, had an 1,800-square-foot wraparound terrace. Mrs. Rathe, who grew up in Connecticut, moved in with him and began remaking the interiors.

There were so many bright colors that people would ask if I was getting the house ready for Halloween, she said. Accessories included antique porcelain dogs with feather boas wrapped around their necks. It wasn't calming, she said.

When their younger daughter left for college, Mrs. Rathe was ready to move to the Upper West Side, which, she said, represented freedom.

The couple sold their apartment and moved to a rental in the Belnord, a West 86th Street building famous for its oversize rooms and epic landlord-tenant disputes. It was in the gym at the Belnord that she met Mr. Meisner, who was born in Germany and whom she found intriguingly reserved and proper.

At the time, the Rathes needed a designer to help redo their house on Long Island, which had been damaged in a flood. They were also looking for an apartment to buy. But Mrs. Rathe wasn't in a hurry, she said, because her three dogs -- Leo, Henry and Charlie -- were happy where they were.

One day, she was walking past the Apple Bank Building with her housekeeper, who urged her to take a look inside. As it turns out, the building has an eighth-floor dog grooming parlor, which Mrs. Rathe considers a wonderful amenity.

An apartment was available that was within the budget the couple had set. (The Rathes declined to say how much they paid, but three duplexes in the 29-unit building are now on the market for $4.085 million to $5.8 million, or about $1,850 a square foot.)

At the time the Rathes bought their apartment, it was still under construction, which allowed them to modify the layout with the help of Mr. Meisner's firm.

Their entry foyer, covered with murals inspired by Corot and painted by Glenn Palmer-Smith, a New York artist, suggests an outdoor courtyard. The dining room displays a very large crystal chandelier.

In the bedroom, there's a gold canopy bed, like what a Saudi Arabian prince might want for his daughter, said Mrs. Rathe, who, left to her own devices, would have picked something even grander.

Now that Mr. Meisner has finished his work on the apartment, Mrs. Rathe can't resist adding things like bright red pillows for the sofas.

Before Henning comes over, she said, I hide things in the closets.

[Illustration]PHOTOS: NO PAW PRINTS: Richard and Betsy Sue Rathe with Leo, Henry and Charlie at home on the Upper West Side. (PHOTOGRAPH BY CHESTER HIGGINS JR./THE NEW YORK TIMES)(pg. RE1); NO ZEBRA STRIPES: Thanks to input from Henning Meisner, an interior designer, Richard and Betsy Sue Rathe's condo in the Apple Bank Building is relatively sedate. Left to her own devices, Mrs. Rathe prefers bright colors.(PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHESTER HIGGINS Jr./THE NEW YORK TIMES)(pg. RE4)