The Bassetti Apartment in Via Verri, Milan
Bassetti, Giansandro
This apartment is one of the many urban residences of the Bassetti family. It began as a project to restore a big apartment on the top floor of a building by incorporating the attic in order to develop a multi-story living area with loggias and terraces on the roof.
In particular, the living room - with full height windows and walnut shutters - occupies both the main floor and the new loft-style mezzanine accessed by a staircase which, together with the other stairs in the house, were sketched extensively so as to find the best solution. The stairs in this project are the undisputed protagonist of Magistretti's sketches, either as free-standing sculptural volumes, or when transformed into precious graphic signs midway between a furnishing and an architecture, for example, the teakwood shelf compartment and table top located halfway up the stairs leading to the conversation area along the north front. The bar area inserted behind the stairs disappears thanks to the pull-down top and a small cabinet door hiding it completely.
Like the contemporary apartment designed by Magistretti for his own use in Via Bellini, the furnishings are a balanced mix of antique and modern obtained by sifting through the owners' collection of eighteenth-century furnishings and choosing the most coherent pieces "for their pure lines and beautiful materials" (Domus, n. 353, 1957, p.19). Magistretti then combined them with the ones he chose from amongst the best serial productions or pieces designed and manufactured ad hoc, e.g., a beautiful radio gramophone with a sliding door screening the radio, record player, and records compartments.
