Denison (LEFT) and Salkin sit amidst treasures like a zebra rug from Denison’s grandfather’s Kenyan safari, and an elephant tusk Denison hunted as a teen.
There are 2,000 stories in here,” says überarchitect Dirk Denison, arriving at his home for our midday photo shoot. Surprisingly, it is the first ever at his art-splashed, floor-to-Spencer-Finch-lighting-fixture-filled space. Most shoots take place at one of his firm’s award-winning projects, like Chicago’s stunning L20 and Terzo Piano restaurants. But his Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe condominium along Lake Shore Drive comes complete with its own interesting tale, and an especially surprising plotline for a critically acclaimed design star.
After 17 years of living in a rented apartment in Chicago while globetrotting for high-profile projects, his friends gathered for what Denison has affectionately dubbed “the condo intervention.” His cousin, Chandra Goldsmith Gray, was moving with her husband, Stephen, from her 22nd floor, two-bedroom apartment to make room for a second child, “and so it was decided that I buy their unit,” he adds. Gray had just renovated the space, so Denison moved in without the slightest architectural tweak; he thought it to be wasteful to renovate something that had just been done.
While he was moving into the 22nd-floor apartment, Denison asked a broker friend to let him have a look at a few unrenovated units for sale in the same building. There was one that struck a chord: a cavernous, window- filled unit facing north and west that was formerly Henry Crown’s pied-à-terre back in the ’70s. The apartment had its original gold lamé wallpaper, a mirrored ceiling, gold-plated Sherle Wagner swan and dolphin bath fixtures and faucets, and was full of light and life. Denison bought that upstairs unit the very same week, and has since been using it for artists in residence.
Two years ago, after a serendipitous meeting the year before at a Chicago Architecture Foundation party, his partner, David Salkin, moved in and they began plans to finally “make the move” upstairs. “There’s a fun dynamic up there. We will definitely keep some of its original features,” says Salkin, who also uses the space as a design studio. His rugs, lighting fixtures and artwork dot the downstairs apartment amid the duo’s vast collections.
