BLUE HEAVEN: The 54th-floor condo is a lush spot to rest.
A living room that’s lined with bookshelves (above). (Robin Cook)
The desk (above) that’s a replica of one that sold for 995,000 pounds
‘I was born in Brooklyn, but lived in Queens till I was 8. This is as far away from our apartment in Woodside as I could get,” author Robin Cook says, gesturing at the massive windows of his sprawling Manhattan living room, from which he has an almost 360-degree view of the city.
Located on the 54th floor of Trump Tower, the apartment offers views all the way to Pennsylvania on a clear day. Limestone pillars carved like Grecian columns line the windows, giving the impression of looking out from an ancient balcony onto the glittering expanse of New York stretching below.
“I have banged my forehead against the glass many times,” Cook says, laughing.
Cook, whose 1977 novel “Coma” was the first in a series of suspenseful best-sellers, is certainly living the literary high life. In addition to this 2,800-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bathroom pied-à-terre, Cook and his wife, Jean, split their time between homes in Boston, Martha’s Vineyard, New Hampshire and Naples, Fla.
“Florida is home base. I wrote the last 20 books in Florida. But I wrote my first book underwater on a submarine,” Cook says.
The author, who finished his post-graduate studies in medicine at Harvard, has always had a taste for adventure, and he was greatly influenced by the art and history he witnessed during his travels throughout Europe in the 1970s.
They especially inspired Cook when it came to decorating his apartment, which he purchased about 30 years ago.
“When I wanted to decorate, I wanted an ultimate urban thing and that’s what made me think of Paris and Napoleon and first-Empire French,” Cook says, pointing to the elaborate gold pillars, the deep cherrywood walls and doors throughout, and the plush chairs and couches with carefully carved legs. Cook also borrows from Napoleon’s interests in ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt. Golden Byzantine sphinxes are perched on his mantel, and the visual theme is echoed in paintings and similar small statues throughout.
But beauty didn’t come easy: Cook had to completely redo the place. “When you came in, there was a narrow corridor that turned into an equivalently narrow corridor. It was strange, like a maze. You felt like a rat,” he recalls. “I wanted almost a miniature temple of Delphi.”
Cook fired his construction crew after finding their measurements were off by almost 4 inches in places and did it himself, putting in walls and wainscoting in a meticulous process that took almost 11 years but resulted in stately perfection. A slightly domed ceiling and two serene statues of Greek goddesses greet guests upon entry.
Cook’s design is not only gracious and grand, but there is also a wry, writerly sense of humor behind it. Bookshelves line one wall of his living room, seemingly crammed with old, dusty volumes, yet these are really boxes cleverly constructed to look like antique books. Housed inside each is one of Cook’s own novels. Cook opens one to reveal a first edition of “Coma,” a vintage cover depicting a nude male figure in deadly repose.
“On my publicity tour, they couldn’t advertise it because in Cincinnati at that time, having a guy’s bare bottom was considered pornographic,” Cook says.
This sort of spicy personal history permeates many of Cook’s possessions; perhaps because he is a natural-born storyteller, he has an affinity for objects that come with legends of their own. His elegant writing desk with green leather top has an intriguing international history.
“I noticed this desk on the cover of a catalog to be auctioned off in Amsterdam. So I called them up and asked if I flew over if they would pull the desk for me. They agreed, but then I said, ‘You know, I think you’re wrong about the desk.’ They, for some reason, had it as made circa 1890. I told them I thought it was more around 1810. I flew all the way to Amsterdam and I was right. They pulled the desk out of the auction and sent it to London, where it ended up going for 995,000 pounds. But they allowed me to take a hundred photos, and this is a replica that I made.”
Cook’s master bedroom is sumptuous, done in powder blue with a massive home-theater system. The en-suite bathroom has radiant-floor heating and thick, clean towels are carefully laid out. The magnificent view is omnipresent; windows in the bedroom and bathroom offer glorious vistas of Central Park, Sheep Meadow and Wollman Rink. Ice skaters swoop in circles, small specks in the distance.
During our visit, Cook entertained old friends who dropped by while he was briefly in New York before his latest novel, “Nano,” was released Dec. 4.
Chuckling over their college days at Harvard, they begin the important business of deciding where to eat for lunch. “There’s this power-lunch place, San Pietro,” Cook suggests. “It’s fun. We have a very good relationship. I put them in one of my books.”
And they’re off.
Robin Cook’s
FAVORITE THINGS
* The woodwork — with 45 coats of lacquer
* The desk that’s a replica of one that sold for 995,000 pounds
* An Empire clock with Syrian and Egyptian symbols
* The bookshelves
* The home-theater armoire
* Original Donald Duck comics from 1948