Havana Deco in Washington Heights

Adam Rolston and Martin McElhiney's one-bedroom reminds you of its Palisades view even when you aren't looking out a window.

- WENDY GOODMAN

The Living Room

The walls were hand-plastered by Omar Yacoub of Maatsch Finishes. Adam Rolston opened the wall space, continuing the shape of the curved doorways. The industrial desk was pulled from the dumpster at Martin McElhiney's job in the mid-'90s. The Paint Pour rug was designed by INC. The coffee table is a secondhand custom piece made by Jay Spectre.

BEFORE ARCHITECT Adam Rolston and his partner, research psychologist Dr. Martin McElhiney, bought their one-bedroom co-op in Washington Heights six years ago, "we had lived on the Lower East Side forever," says Rolston, who would walk to work as creative and managing director of INC Architecture & Design. McElhiney practices at Columbia Presbyterian's Psychiatric Institute uptown, so when they decided to move, it was to be somewhere closer to work for him. Now he can walk to his office.

After looking at 30 places, they found this prewar Art Deco-style co-op with a corner window that framed the George Washington Bridge and views across the river. "It's like you are in the country," Rolston says. "There's virtually no city. Instead, they can watch "people kayaking, the big boats, bald eagles-I mean there's a whole population of wildlife that flies by here."

The View