Now and Zen

Like many a New York real estate story, it started with a desire for more space.

Chef Simpson Wong (owner of West Village restaurants Cafe Asean and Wong) and his partner, cardiologist Henry Wu, were living in a Chelsea one-bedroom and feeling cramped.

It ended up with them buying a 2,000-square-foot residence in an elegant, elaborate, landmarked 1887 mansion just off Fifth Avenue and Washington Square Park — and then transforming it into a spare, serene home.

“It’s kind of Zen,” Simpson, 48, says. “Because of the color scheme and because everything is so open.”

Michael Sofronski

Simpson Wong enjoys using the kitchen of his spacious and sleek apartment. He grows herbs for his two restaurants on the deck.

They found it in 2005. Henry saw a newspaper ad for an apartment that sounded interesting.

“It was a townhouse that was being converted to a condominium,” he says. “That’s very rare, and that’s what initially attracted me to it.”

When he raced over for a look, he became even more smitten.

“The building is both longer and wider than a brownstone,” Henry, 48, says. “At 34 feet wide — it’s actually two buildings combined into one — it’s classified as a mansion. And, instead of having a garden, the original owners built an extension at the back of the house.”

The owner was offering a full floor (there are four floors) for each unit. Henry wanted the top floor because it included roof rights.

“This was the height of the real estate craze,” he says, “and I was the first one to see the apartment. The selling point was the roof rights. So I met the asking price, and I thought we had it.”

But with New York real estate, things happen. Another would-be buyer wanted both the third and fourth floors.

“So we had to guarantee the price of the third floor,” Henry says. “If the owner didn’t get his asking price for the third floor, we would pay the difference. Or we would buy both floors. But it turned out OK. He sold the floor at the asking price.”

“It was crazy,” Simpson adds. “When we were about to close, another person offered us $300,000 above what we were paying for the [apartment]. We hadn’t even closed yet!”

The purchase went through in March 2005, and then they settled back and waited . . . and waited some more, through 2005, 2006 and part of 2007.

“Since the house is a landmark,” Simpson explains, “the conversion to condo needed special, time-consuming approval. We had the contract to buy the apartment, but we couldn’t do anything to it until the conversion was complete. And once it was approved, we had to apply for a permit to renovate it.”

What they wanted was a modern apartment in the beautiful old building. With the help of Henry’s brother, architect Philip Wu, they tore down walls to make a big flowing space with one area blending into another.