Most of all, Robert Gladstone likes to buck convention, which comes in handy when building award-winning architectural structures and selling multimillion-dollar units with some of the most technologically advanced facades in the city. He doesn’t mind being called a little crazy. The last time that happened was over his latest in-apartment amenity. Manhattan’s first in-home steam rooms, 5-by-8-foot spaces perfectly fitted at the end of the master bath suites in every apartment at 57 Irving Place, Madison Equities’ nine-unit building two blocks from Gramercy Park. “I want people around the world to remember this building as the one with the steam rooms,” says Gladstone, wearing a crisp blue blazer and new Gap jeans, in his office. “In Vienna, Marie-Claire and I had these terrific steam rooms in our hotel room. It was healthy, and no one here has anything like it. When you’re selling to people who can afford any apartment on the planet, you’d better give them something no one else has.” Designed by architect Audrey Matlock and Madison’s Andrew Harris, Gladstone’s in-house design and construction expert, the steam room has river-washed blue stone floors, Vermont marble back walls, 3-by-12-inch black slate tiles on the walls and ceiling, and a bench of teak sourced in Thailand.
The ceiling slants so that water won’t drip on anyone’s head. Creating such architectural wonder requires the skills of an award-winning designer and the infrastructure of an industrial building company. They have proved that they possess both.
. – from NYDailyNews