When the owner of this Short North penthouse bought the place, he loved the location and view, but the amenities and decor left much to be desired.
Three years later, he’s got everything looking the way he wants it to look and working the way he wants it to work – with two kitchens, a home theater, a variety of repurposed industrial equipment, artwork (including his own) and smart home capabilities throughout, to name just a few highlights.
The 6,000-square-foot penthouse is equipped with 12-foot ceilings. Its footprint is the same as it was when it was built in the 2000s, but just about everything else has changed: finishes, flooring, counters, stairs, most fixtures.
“I just wanted it to be a canvas for my artwork and other people’s artwork,” says homeowner Don Halpern.
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The lower floor is home to the master suite, three additional bedrooms, a kitchen, a living area with a custom-built coffee bar, an office, a half bath and the theater, as well as Halpern’s workshop. He’s an inventor and an artist by trade, and his creations can be found all throughout the home.
A set of refinished stairs leads to the upper level, including another kitchen, a full bathroom, a living room and a colossal balcony that looks down onto High Street. A window wall and sliding glass doors, all equipped with their own built-in screens, offer even more great views.
Off the balcony deck is a patio surrounded by retractable screens and equipped with a natural gas heater to make it a viable gathering space in all four seasons.
“You can be in the Short North environment, but be someplace relaxed and up above it,” Halpern says.
Custom Creations
Some of Halpern’s self-made additions to the space are obvious:
- Paintings and mixed-media pieces, including a particularly large one in the master bedroom
- Sculptures, such as a small figure of a person made out of drawers
- Furniture, including a small glass table with a massive ceramic hand as the base
- More esoteric additions, such as an old bronze bust that Halpern painted to add a Roy Lichtenstein-esque leopard-print vest
Others are less immediately recognizable as original creations. Many of these began life as industrial equipment at the Blacklick Feed Mill, which Halpern previously bought with the intention of turning it into office space. Though he didn’t end up converting the building – it had been abandoned for years and was in rough shape – he did find new homes for many of the fixtures and pieces of equipment.
A grain sorter became a coffee table. A massive industrial wrench became the centerpiece of another table. Yet another piece of equipment was turned into a pool cue holder. Pipes became ceiling lights, though Halpern brought over a few industrial light fixtures as well. He also created an attention-grabbing wall light with a multicolored checker pattern.
“I made every light fixture in here, pretty much,” Halpern says.
He even repurposed some of the penthouse’s older fixtures, such as a set of shower doors that’s now part of the desk in his office.
More Features to Appreciate
The penthouse’s smart home features go well beyond the ability to remotely control lights and temperature. In addition to being accessible via a phone app, the features can be controlled by panels, located in each room. The app and panels are equipped with four different light settings – morning, evening, night and mood – and they also control the sound system.
“There are about 60 speakers throughout the place,” Halpern says.
The lower-floor kitchen is set up with a double dishwasher, a double trash can cabinet, a 48-inch range, a custom knife rack and a sizable walk-in pantry. The upper kitchen has a heavy table that could easily be mistaken for an island and an enormous window seat, for which Halpern had a cushion custom made.
The two kitchens are set up for different purposes, Halpern says, with the upper one being more of a casual gathering space and the lower one being more ideal for day-to-day usage.
“It just makes sense to have each one be self-sufficient,” he says.
The theater room was designed as a home theater before Halpern ever moved in, but he’s found ways to add his own signature touches to it. These include a bar with a wall of bourbon and other liquor bottles and a glass display case filled with boxes of movie theater candy – think Reese’s Pieces, Nerds and Jujubes. A 4K projector and a 150-foot screen highlight the room as well.
The latest addition to the penthouse is an all-cedar sauna, which Halpern just finished building in the master bathroom in September. The master bath was already host to a walk-in shower, a TV and a fireplace – one of three in the home, all of them controlled by the smart home system as well.
Garth Bishop is a contributing editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
