Set in an elegant prewar building on Fifth Avenue, the apartment had everything a couple seeking their first-ever Manhattan pied-à-terre could ask for. It was an easy drive from their home outside the city, close to their grown children, and, best of all, it occupied a prime perch overlooking Central Park, while the views south embraced both the Chrysler and the Empire State buildings. All it needed was a refresh. Or so they thought.

The ink had scarcely dried on their contract when the husband discovered the HVAC system was sorely in need of repair. And, after spending some time in the apartment, the couple realized the floor plan could be improved and the finishes upgraded. “We started thinking bigger,” the husband recalls.

For advice, the couple reached out to their friends Pam and Jon Schneller of venerable upholstery and furniture firm Schneller Inc., who suggested they contact designer Elizabeth Bauer. When Bauer came for a look, she was wowed by the stunning views. But something else caught her eye: the low ceilings throughout; the columns that protruded into the hallway and the living-dining room; and a disjointed layout that made the space feel smaller and darker than it was, thanks in large part to a 1990s conversion from hotel to condos. “I totally understood why anyone walking into the apartment would fall in love with it,” the designer shares. “But nothing was quite right. There was no flow.”

Bauer knew just who to call: architect Sam Mitchell, whose portfolio includes city renovations and custom homes from Massachusetts to Florida. Together, they studied how they could improve the layout, beginning with the foyer, whose window was unceremoniously tucked away in a broom closet. “You had this beautiful apartment with prime park views, and you walked into a wall upon entry,” Bauer recalls. (Another window in the primary bedroom was blocked by a massive closet.)

The hits kept coming when Mitchell, alongside his studio director, Bill Pollack, determined that the awkward ceilings and columns were part of the building’s infrastructure and couldn’t be changed. Their solution? To raise the ceilings where possible, lacquer them in a high-gloss mirror finish to create the illusion of height, and to encase the columns throughout with fluting that would lend a Deco-inspired flair. “I would never say that constraints are a problem—they take you places you wouldn’t otherwise go,” says Mitchell.

And so, what started as a simple redecoration project became a down-to-the-slab renovation. Fortunately, general contractor Eamonn Ryan was up to a challenge that included navigating a building without a freight elevator and painstakingly deploying an array of materials according to the design team’s specifications. Notes Mitchell, “The kitchen is 100% about the materials—there’s walnut, gunmetal steel, brass and highly figured stone. I’ve done dozens of projects with Eamonn and nothing is impossible for his firm.”

As the bones of the apartment were coming together, Bauer began devising a decoration plan that would enhance the panorama outside while creating an elegant, enveloping ambiance. The transformed foyer sets the tone for what’s to come. Lined in matte finished walnut millwork and lit by a sparkling chandelier, it’s both an entrance and a place to linger. In the living-dining room beyond, the designer employed a tonal palette of creams, whites and beiges popped with metallic accents. “I kept everything neutral so the four seasons would speak and become the art,” Bauer says. Even the walls, which are finished with Venetian plaster, impart a luxuriously subtle feel.

Freed from its view-obstructing closet, the reorganized primary bedroom suite is an event all its own, with silk de Gournay draperies of the same pattern as the wallpaper in the dressing room. “Even though it’s two spaces, there’s a beautiful flow and a softness,” says Bauer. And should the couple crave a respite from the abundant light and views, a secondary sitting room doubling as the husband’s office offers a cozy retreat with its dark chocolate-lacquered walls.

With an interior that’s at once luxurious and welcoming, the couple now has a New York residence that makes their city sojourns as special for themselves as they are for their guests. “The apartment needed a history,” concludes Bauer. “Through architecture and finishes we gave it a soul and a story.”