Gladstone finds that homes are where the art is.

Robert Gladstone never dreamed he would become a businessman, let alone work in real estate, despite it being the family business.

Gladstone, the owner of Madison Equities, which was founded by his parents in the 1950s, originally wanted to be a writer or songwriter, He attended New York University, where he majored in English with minors in History and Art History.

Then, when he was in his early twenties he "found out [he] was a businessman," taking on more responsibilities at his parents' companies.

His parents' first founded Prince Carpentry, a construction firm, in New York City in 1949. His father started in the construction industry at his own father's company before it closed down. After working an interim job as a carpenter, his father and mother, a bookkeeper, decided to open Prince. His father started out with a box of tools and a single worker. The company eventually grew into 1,00 workers.

They then opened Madison Equities in the 1950s. In 1965 they made their mark by developing the Excelsior. With 371 luxury apartments above 200,000 s/f of commercial space, the Excelsior was "the first truly mixed-use building in New York City." His parents eventually sold Prince Carpentry to the company's office staff in order to focus their concentration on their real estate operations. These companies were Gladstone's introduction to the real estate industry.

"I started to get involved as a kid with summer jobs at the construction company," Gladstone said. These summer jobs paved the way to his becoming the assistant to the superintendent of construction before he was out of college.

"I liked things coming together after a day's work," he said. "It's the most hands-on business. You go from conceptualizing an idea, to putting it on paper, to problem solving as you put [the building] up."

Real Estate and construction also allowed him to be creative. He came to love architecture and the design of buildings.

"I used to be into classical proportions, but I'm a strict modernist now," Gladstone said. "I love modern architecture. I really enjoy modernism; it can be superb if it's done right."

Gladstone took on more responsibilities at Madison Equities in the 1980s. He has run the company for about 15 years, having bought it from his parents in the 1990s.

Though the company concentrated mainly on the development of mixed-use and office buildings when it first opened, as Gladstone had more say, Madison Equities began to lean more towards residential in order to keep up with the times.

"At first, we considered ourselves to be a full-service company that specialized in office and high rise residential," Gladstone said. "After the early nineties, we didn't pursue office buildings any more, because there didn't seem to be much need for it. We decided to concentrate on hotels and residential after that, "I don't think we're going to do another office building for a very long time. It's not our thing."

Next month, Madison Equities at will be breaking ground at 410 East 92nd Street for a 226-room Marriott, which, because of zoning laws, is designated to be the last hotel to ever be built on Manhattan's Upper East Side. They are also co-venturing a resort in the Dominican Republic that will consist of both hotels and residential space. If that venture goes well, Gladstone might seek out similar projects for the company.

However, the company's most ambitious project at the moment is a 12-story condominium building at 447 West 18th Street in Chelsea, for which they plan to break ground in February. The building, which was designed by architect, Audrey Matlock, will appeal to the neighborhood's contemporary art market. It will be composed of 47 units, four of which will be artist duplex apartments that include gallery space. Zoning on the project allows for it to be as wide as it is tall, having been developed on a horizontal plain due to height limitations. "It's going to be an important architectural statement in the city," Gladstone said. "It's a beautiful building and makes a very important statement. The artistic quality and design respond to the people who will buy the apartments there. The building responds to [the neighborhood] very well."

Gladstone is modest though, not wanting to take credit for the company's success, saying that he feels "egomaniacal" talking about himself.

"I'm lucky to have excellent people around," he said. "We've assembled a terrific group here, people who are extremely interested in architecture. It's a great pleasure to have such depth to our organization."