A Playboy Pad: Manhattan Tower

High amid the towering spires of New York, free-lance photographer Pete Turner combines an office and a home into a top-floor bachelor-pad apartment ideally suited to his jet-propelled life as one of the busiest camera artists on the international scene. Tucked away in the caverns of Gotham, these colorfully compact yet supremely functional digs, commanding a panoramic view of Manhattan from every window, make a perfect pied-à-ciel for a globe-trotting lensman like Turner.

With careful planning and an acute and sophisticated color sense which guides and controls his preference for vivid hues, Turner has managed to turn a fairly standard New York two-bedroom apartment into a private haven that reflects his moods and tastes.

"I decorated it myself," explains Turner, "not because I necessarily have such great ideas, but because I wanted to. I used to live in one of those professionally decorated show apartments and I didn't like it. I suppose all the right things were in the right places, but it lacked individuality; it wasn't me. When I first moved here I got in a decorator to handle the work, but he started to do the same sorts of things all over again. So I called him off and decided to do it on my own. I didn't begin for about six months, while I read up on interior design. I figured this time, even if it isn't exactly right, it's going to be me."

A master of color and dramatic lighting in his photography, Turner turned his expertise loose on his apartment. By employing the primary colors of blue and red and then toning them down through judicious placement of walnut and pine paneling, Turner achieved a sense of expansiveness that belies the relatively moderate size of the apartment. The lighting throughout is recessed and operates on rheostats, which gives him complete control and lets him establish whatever mood setting he wants--from a brightly lit party atmosphere to a quiet romantic glow. By running the lights from soft to bright, Turner can actually change color tones in the room from a soft mauve to a russet red.

Without any partitioning, he created two separate areas within the 25-by-17-foot living room. A custom-built walnut shelf and storage unit was placed along the entire length of one wall to handle the utilitarian chores of housing his books and elaborate high-fidelity / stereo system. At the same time, the unit fulfills the aesthetic need for a focal point that is missing in most modern apartment living rooms without a fireplace.

The other half of the living room is furnished for quiet conversation with a small grouping of two upholstered swivel chairs and a long corner couch.

"I like modern furniture," Turner says, "but sometimes it can be too sterile. My European friends helped me fill out the room with warmth and a sense of the casual I don't always have."

Turner carefully mixed the best of American and Continental furnishings. Between a pair of American chairs by Directional he placed an ingenious teakwood combination cabinet table and bar custom-made by Illums of Copenhagen. Folded up, it is a solid square end table. When the top is extended, it becomes an elegant home bar and serving area for potables. Wooden masks from Tahiti and sculpture from Bali combine with Paul McCobb furniture and Leonard Larsen fabrics to complete an international ambience.

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The setting is ideal for small-scale entertaining. "I can handle up to 50 people with no trouble," says Turner, "but the apartment is best when there are just four or five couples. To me, that's about the right number for a party anyway. I don't know how to cook and I never step inside my kitchen except to get ice."

Whether for a small party or a tête-à-tête dinner, it is after dark that the apartment really comes into its own. Turner can turn down the ceiling lamps until the room is tinged with a bluish cast and let the brilliance of Manhattan at night fill the room.

After photography, music is Pete Turner's consuming interest. Whenever he takes off on a foreign assignment, he tries to bring back a few hours' worth of tape recordings of the local music. He wired his apartment for sound with separate volume-control speakers in every room.

In sharp contrast to the rich colors he used in the rest of the apartment, Turner opted for light tones in his master bedroom. The room is simple and uncluttered, with a king-size bed and a custom-made headboard as its major piece of furniture. The headrest doubles as an electronic headquarters and houses a central panel that controls all stereo functions, the lighting throughout the whole apartment, as well as the extension speaker system.

The work center of Turner's digs was originally the second bedroom. With desktop storage units and soft pine paneling, the office seems more like a casual second sitting room than a working studio.

"I had to make this room livable," explains Turner, "because when I get back from an assignment and settle down to go over my work, I feel like I am literally living here for days at a stretch."

He installed two banks of cabinets. One runs along the length of a wall and provides ample storage space for filing. The other forms an L-shaped work area with a recessed light box under a flip-up desktop.

Like the living-room wall unit, all of the cabinetry in the office area was built as separate units and is removable.

"I try to keep organized so I can put my hands on anything as soon as I need it," he says. "I never know where I am going to be next, so I have to be ready to pack in 15 minutes to go on a round-the-world trip. If I had to, I could probably move everything I own out of here in half a day."

A restless traveler, Pete Turner someday may have to move on. But for now he lives the life he likes, where he wants to live it--in a high-level bachelor's lair overlooking the lights and colors that make up the fascination of a great city.