“I never go anywhere,” Marc Balet says, as he guides me through his forestlike Soho rooftop garden that rambles along different levels of his penthouse terraces. Why would he? Photo: Wendy Goodman
Marc’s entire apartment is incredible. He found it twenty years ago, when he was living at the original Gramercy Park Hotel and this space was a dance studio. At the time, he was a freelance art director after training as an architect at the Rhode Island School of Design, winning the Prix de Rome, and working as the art director of Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine from 1976 to 1988. Today, he is at the helm of his own online agency, Mixed Business Group, and has created websites like the Plunge, a wedding resource for men, which just launched. Photo: Wendy Goodman
Here’s a detail of Marc’s photo wall. There’s Marc with Brooke Shields, then Marc jumping with Carly Simon. This wall alone recalls a time in New York City when everyone was just having so much fun. Photo: Wendy Goodman
Marc designed this amoeba-shaped dining-slash-work table. Photo: Wendy Goodman
Here, you can get a sense of how extensive his photo wall is. Photo: Wendy Goodman
And Marc really thinks of everything. He has a pair of opera glasses on hand for people who want to find photos of themselves on the wall. Photo: Wendy Goodman
His wood-burning fireplace is a bit hidden by photos. Photo: Wendy Goodman
Here is a photo of a model taken by David LaChapelle. A rather glam portrait of Marc by Arthur Elgort is down on the left, and a Cecil Beaton photo is at the right, with a woman wearing what I imagine was a sapphire necklace. Photo: Wendy Goodman
When night falls, Marc repairs to his third-floor bedroom, which he calls his “little cabin in the sky.” No wonder he doesn’t go anywhere. Would you? Photo: Wendy Goodman
