The ‘Bingo' Heiress's Fantastical Duplex

With its Fragonard staircase, koi-pond bathroom, and rodeo-themed kitchen, Gail Ann Lowe Maidman’s apartment is like nothing else on the Upper East Side. Or anywhere else, really.

-  WENDY GOODMAN

THE WALK-THROUGH MIRROR A section of the wall swivels open between the library and the living room.

THE GOTHIC LIBRARY Gail Maidman was careful to work with artisans and companies she felt were in keeping with her values. After turning down an Austrian company because of that country’s cooperation with Nazis, she chose an Irish firm to make the stained-glass windows in the library. “They were on her own approved list of countries who were good to the Jews,” her daughter, Starr Kempin, explains.

THE LIVING ROOM Gail called the pair of goddess-head seats her “fertility chairs,” Starr says. “If someone was having a fertility issue, she would make them sit in them.”THE KITCHEN The western-themed kitchen was inspired in part by the set of Agnes de Mille’s ballet Rodeo. Jim Digregorio, who installed much of the kitchen, says Gail came to him and announced, “I want this kitchen to look like a small town in Texas.” He recalls that some of the wood he used came from the Ralph Lauren store on 72nd and Madison. “It was part of a window display. She was passing by as they were disposing of it, and she said she would take it.”