Gerald Butler in NY

Thirteen-foot-tall mahogany doors with a knocker that could summon the dead. A ceiling fresco depicting the rape of Ganymede. Plaster walls chipped and mottled with age, massive columns supporting limestone lions, crystal chandeliers casting spidery shadows…. Medieval castle? Ancestral manor house? Try a two-story loft in the heart of New York’s ultratrendy Chelsea district. The doors alone are remarkable enough to stop the most jaded Manhattanite in his tracks: Who in the world lives here?

Why, King Leonidas of Sparta, who else? The place starts to make a little more sense when one considers that its owner is the actor Gerard Butler, and Gerard Butler is known for channeling such larger-than-life figures as the Spartan king, Attila the Hun, Dracula, the Phantom of the Opera and Beowulf. “I wanted something elegant and gorgeous and at the same time rather masculine and raw,” the actor declares, his Glasgow burr somehow enhancing the description. “I guess I would describe the apartment as bohemian old-world rustic château with a taste of baroque.”

Actor Gerard Butler worked with architect Alexander Gorlin and film designer Elvis Restaino on his 3,300-square-foot loft in Manhattan. “We recreated things that came into Gerry’s life—from his travels in Europe or even from an old coffee shop in New York,” Restaino says.

I wanted something elegant and gorgeous and at the same time rather masculine and raw,

explains the 40-year-old Scotsman. “I guess I would describe the apartment as bohemian old-world rustic chateau with a taste of baroque.”

While Butler clearly had a vision for the space, he turned to architect Alexander Gorlin and film designer Elvis Restaino to bring it to life. Says Restaino, “We re-created things that came into Gerry’s life — from his travels in Europe or even from an old coffee shop in New York.”

Renovating the loft took much more time than Gerard anticipated. “I knew it was going to take a lot of work to turn the loft into a place where I actually wanted to live,” he shares. “But I didn’t realize it would be four years before I spent the night!”

Now that the “Bounty Hunter” star has a place to sleep, he’s planning on making more renovations to his abode, which sits on the sixth and seventh floors of a converted manufacturing warehouse in the trendy NYC neighborhood of Chelsea. Yes, his loft has two floors — and an adjoining roof terrace! Sounds like the perfect place for the hunky actor to entertain the ladies … then again, maybe not.

“More than anything, I use my apartment as somewhere to retreat and spend time on my own,” shares Butler.

New York is such a frenetic, crazy city, so I love to use the place for just some peace and quiet.