Modernist Fifth Avenue time capsule designed by Ward Bennett seeks $4.9M

The legendary designer's stamp is on every inch of this Upper East Side apartment

A modernist time capsule located within a stately Upper East Side co-op has hit the market asking $4.9 million, and fans of the late designer Ward Bennett—who made a name for himself as a furniture designer, and created more than 150 chairs during his career—will be especially intrigued, as he designed the apartment from top to bottom in the late 1970s.

Handbag designer Reva Ostrow, who is selling the apartment, got Bennett to revamp the place in 1979, and told PIN—UP in 2013 that "[h]iring him was the best thing I've ever done in my life."

The apartment is located at 955 Fifth Avenue, a tony co-op building that was designed by Rosario Candela in the 1930s. But you wouldn't know that by looking at this particular apartment, which was gutted and transformed into a canvas for Bennett's particular design sensibility—described by Tim deFiebre, his former assistant, as having "nothing superfluous," and "always honed down to their bare essence."

Iconic modernist pieces, including these Le Corbusier lounge chairs, can be found throughout the apartment.

Indeed, the space is quite minimal—"museum-like," as the listing describes it—and is filled with pieces either designed or selected by Bennett specifically for the space. His Landmark chairs—which you can still buy from Herman Miller—are situated around the dining room table, and other iconic modernist pieces, including Le Corbusier's LC4 lounge chairs.

The color palette is largely neutral, with a muted beige terrazzo used in the dining room and kitchen (and as the surface of the dining room table), and gray carpeting in other parts of the apartment. Pops of color come from decorative elements, such as exposed structural beams (one of which is painted bright red) and artwork on the walls. Every inch was customized, from the massive windows with integrated blinds, to a sleek bathroom vanity with a large mirror.

Bennett's own Landmark chairs surround the dining room table, which is made of the same terrazzo found throughout the apartment.

As it's currently configured, the space has one bedroom and three bathrooms, with the possibility of transforming it into a two or even three-bedroom. (But with an apartment with this design pedigree, why would you?)

This truly unique apartment at 955 Fifth Avenue is listed with Stribling's Laurie Stolowitz and Iris Klatsky for $4.9 million.

The kitchen is large and has its own breakfast nook.

Bennett also placed the art found throughout the apartment.

A Josef Hoffmann chair sits in front of the custom vanity in the master bathroom.

A painted, exposed structural beam provides a pop of color.