A Fine-Feathered Family Nest - NYTimes.com Jill and Jimmy Haber love every square inch of their five-story, 25-foot-wide townhouse on the Upper East Side. Brimming with pride and a palpable sense of contentment as they stand in their foyer with its welcoming fireplace, they worry only about whether to commence a visitor's tour on the bottom or the top floor. "We usually start downstairs with my media room," Mr. Haber said. But Ms. Haber, who is wearing impossibly high heels and a long-sleeved midnight-blue dress, said, "Let's take the elevator up and work our way down the staircase." That she is willing to begin with the townhouse's most spectacular feature - half a basketball court with a retractable glass roof, a space reminiscent of a gymnasium at a small, exclusive private school - suggests her confidence that a visitor will be equally dazzled by the other floors. "We built the court for my son," said Ms. Haber, who designed the house with the architect Thomas H. Vail and decorated it with Wayne Nathan and Carol Egan. We also have parties up here - it's like having a built-in dance floor. When asked whether the top floor had been part of the original house or an addition, the Habers appeared flummoxed. "This is a brand-new house!" exclaimed Mr. Haber, who grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, and owns more than two dozen restaurants, including BLT Steak and BLT Fish, which he retained control of after a bitter breakup with the BLT co-founder, Laurent Tourondel. We tore down what was here before and built from the ground up. The classic red-brick mansion looks as if it had been around since the turn of the last century. Discreetly set back from the sidewalk behind an elegant wrought-iron fence, it has only one dissonant aspect: its location on a ragtag block in the East 70s, between Second and Third Avenues. "I would really love to live in the West Village," said Ms. Haber, who grew up in Rockland County, "and this street was particularly appealing to me because it has that feel, with some mom-and-pop shops." Recently, in a Midtown workshop, she started a company bearing her name that handcrafts evening purses from exotic skins. On this block I have total anonymity, total privacy. Behind these closed doors, it's just about me and my family. Married for 20 years and the parents of a son, 18, and a daughter, 14, the Habers lived for many years in a rental building on Third Avenue as they debated whether to buy a co-op or a townhouse. "My philosophy was that if I was going to spend a lot of money to own something," Mr. Haber said, "I didn't want to have to be dependent on a super being nice, a doorman being nice, a neighbor's dog being nice. To me, a townhouse was the only way. I think it was the only thing I've ever talked Jill into - except marriage. There were no other compromises. Ms. Haber designed their house with meticulous consideration to traditional aesthetics and her family's needs. For instance, there is a refrigerator on every floor. "If I want a bottle of water, I don't have to go down to the kitchen," Mr. Haber said. Something as simple as that is terrific. Jill was very thoughtful about every detail. As they leave the basketball court, Ms. Haber explains how the stairwell offers a vertiginous, Hitchcock-worthy view to the media room five floors below. "The staircase was one of my pet projects," she said. "I grew up when "The Waltons" was popular on TV - remember "Good night, John-Boy"? - and I wanted a staircase where every member of the family could stand on a different floor and look up and down at each other and say good night." The fourth floor has a guest suite and her children's rooms, but Ms. Haber doesn't want a visitor poking around in them. "They are teenagers and I think they deserve their privacy," she said, noting that she wants a little privacy, too. I am not going to show you my closet. But there is plenty else to see. The third-floor master suite is a soothing symphony of beiges with a fireplace and a Juliet balcony that overlooks the garden they put in before construction began. The gentleman who does our landscaping in the Hamptons told us if we wanted to plant 10-foot trees, then we had to do the garden first, because we wouldn't be able to get them through the house once it was built. The third-floor library doubles as Ms. Haber's home office, and several of her bags are displayed on a shelf over her desk. The walls are upholstered in Ultrasuede. "I thought it would be more feminine and less expected than wood paneling," she said. This is my cozy spot where I will watch TV at the end of the day unless I have to work, and then it's my non-cozy spot. On the second floor, both the living and dining rooms have large contemporary paintings and handsome mantelpieces. When asked how many fireplaces the house has, Mr. Haber laughed. "There are six," he said. That's almost like asking us how many TVs. The living and dining rooms are connected by a full-service butler's pantry with ovens for reheating, striped marble countertops and walls covered in a chic woods-in-winter wallpaper. "I wanted this kitchen to be pretty because it is a peek-a-boo between two rooms," Ms. Haber said. When we entertain, my family and friends often want to help, so everyone is in and out of here, and I want people to have a nice experience when they come to my house. Instead of installing a dumbwaiter, Ms. Haber decided on a back staircase that leads to the first-floor main kitchen, with its mammoth wood-burning fireplace. The other five fireplaces are gas. "When the kids were younger, they would toast marshmallows here," she said. In the wintertime, when the fireplace is roaring and everyone is in their pajamas on a weekend, it is really cozy. Mr. Haber takes the lead as the tour continues to the lower-level media room, which has three TVs inset into one of the cerused oak walls. "This is the best place to be for Sunday football," he said. What is also great is that we have three DVRs. On Saturday nights, the room is usually full of teenagers. "As a mother," Ms. Haber said, "I think I have accomplished my goal that my kids want to be here with their friends." Her husband has a slightly different perspective. "In some respects, having a wonderful home is a disadvantage," Mr. Haber said good-naturedly, "because nobody ever wants to leave it."