Dubow has plenty of room for books.
Dubobw’s dining room
The Sutton Place apartment that author Charles Dubow and his wife, Melinda, call home is an upgrade over their previous apartment in many ways. One example: It’s the perfect place to have an argument.
“We had been living in a large, open loft in SoHo,” says NYC native Dubow, whose first novel, “Indiscretion,” came out in February. “It’s hard to live with someone in a loft space. If you have a fight, there’s no place to go.”
It’s not that the couple is especially argumentative. Dubow is kidding about that part.
Rather, “we wanted to find a place with doors you could close and rooms that were well made,” Dubow says. “We found this place — a Sutton Place co-op — with a great location and the price was right. And we loved the fact that it was a proper, old-fashioned apartment building.” (Built in 1926 and designed by architect Alfred Busselle, the building had the added cachet of having famed designer Dorothy Draper consult on the floor plans.)
The couple also appreciated the classic layout: “I like having a proper kitchen as opposed to an open kitchen,” Dubow says. “We wanted to have a dining room, too. I like a formal dining room.”
They bought the one-bedroom for $315,000 in 1995, and then, in 2001, as their family expanded (their son William is 14, daughter Lally is 12), they purchased another one-bedroom next door. That addition cost another $500,000 and entailed a major renovation. They ended up with three bedrooms (by turning the second unit’s kitchen and living room into the kids’ rooms), two bathrooms, a family room and Melinda’s office, along with a kitchen, a living room and a full dining room. Prewar details include French doors, a working fireplace, molding and original oak floors.
As for décor, the couple’s inherited heirlooms are well suited to the classic space.“The only things we bought for the entire apartment,” Melinda says, “were the kids’ furniture and one drop-leaf table.”
Other pieces, which belonged to the couple’s families — grandparents, great aunts and other ancestors — fill out the foyer and living and dining rooms.
These include a Colonial-period bench, a hand-painted Chinese chest from the 1800s, Chippendale chairs, sculptured greyhounds and a lovely old cabinet. There are also two couches — one from each family — and ancestors’ portraits from 1810 and 1780 (including a Revolutionary War general).
The dining room is full of pieces from both of the couple’s grandparents: the table, chairs, wine coolers, candlesticks, a painting and a beautiful blue glass candelabra with red candles. “The dining room is my favorite room,” Dubow says. “And it’s where I wrote my book.”
He’d wanted to write a novel ever since he graduated from college in 1987. Now, at 50, he’s finally achieved that goal. “I was working at Businessweek,” he says, “when I had a minor health scare and it was a wake-up call.”
He started getting up at 5 a.m., heading to his laptop on the dining room table and writing until 7 when the family would wake up and he’d have to get ready to go to the office. “I’m a natural morning person,” Dubow says. “I don’t drink coffee; I’m just up. I didn’t want to waste any time, so I had a Coke and scoops of peanut butter. And that’s how I was able — in three years — to get my manuscript finished.”
The book — which takes place in the city and the Hamptons — is about a couple who have it all until one day when a young woman enters their lives. It’s been described as “The Great Gatsby” meets “50 Shades of Grey.”
Dubow is working on a second novel and some short stories, but: “Having that first book come out is a dream come true. After getting married and having kids, it’s the best thing ever.”
Charles Dubow’s
favorite things
* Paintings of ancestors including Thomas Pinckney, a general during the American Revolution
* A photo of ancestor John Breckinridge, who was the country’s youngest vice president
* A porcelain hippo that belonged to wife Melinda’s grandmother
* The dining room: “Everything in here once belonged to someone else.”
*Antique sterling silver heirloom pitchers