Stepping out on Park Avenue

A couple of years ago, this gilded, glamorous apartment was a plain white box. Then Wesley Moon got his hands on it...

- Catherine Coyle

It has taken him a couple of decades to get here, but Wesley Moon has made it to Park Avenue at last. The designer had dreamt of owning an apartment on the Upper East Side ever since he was a child, and he can't hide his delight that he now has what he always wanted. What he has created here in New York City's most prestigious residential neighbourhood is a dramatic art-filled, gilt-edged home that some might suggest only he could live in. "It's a very personal space," he agrees with a smile. "I know it might not be for everyone, but I designed it for me. I appreciate all design styles."

The 45-year-old Georgia-born designer, who started out as an architect and then studied interior design, relishes every moment he spends in his new home. It was a trial getting here so he really values the singular, spectacular abode he has created. "I viewed so many places before this one came up," he says of the hunt to find the right property. "This was back in February 2019, and, with approvals and permissions taking almost a year, I couldn't start working on it until January 2020-right before everything got locked down in March. Even when things opened up again in July, there were lots of limitations, so it took a long time - two years and four months - to complete the project."

Moon has been living in the two-bedroom apartment for a year now and all of those delays and obstacles feel like a distant memory. "I'd owned a couple of places in New York in the past before I found this one, so I'd figured out how I live and really distilled what I wanted from a home. I think the main goal for me was to make sure that every room has a purpose and every space is used."