Richard Steinberg of Warburg Realty Partnership

L. to r.: Renee and Richard Steinberg; Jon, Renee, and Richard Steinberg; Richard and Renee with Kenny Alpert.

Everybody is aware that Richard Steinberg is a boldface name in the real estate world but few know that the top producer and senior managing director at Warburg Realty Partnership got his foot in the door by walking in the back door.

Two decades ago, he was a successful podiatrist who specialized in sports medicine and owned six clinics in the city. His hobby was buying and selling houses, so it was easy for him to trade the foot for the footprint. “I’ve always been a frustrated architect, and I took courses in it in college,” he says. “Real estate and medicine are a lot alike, because in each you have to develop a relationship with the client. You have to establish a level of trust in each field.”

At a housewarming party the Steinberg's hosted at their Kenny Alpert designed pied-a-terre.

Clockwise from top left: A Robb Wynne creation hangs in the Steinberg bedroom; Another view of the bedroom; A reflection off the grand mirror in the living room.

Richard, who has worked with clients to turn many of Manhattan’s most magnificent townhouses back into single-family homes, says it is thrilling to have a major role in remaking history. “I’m passionate about bringing these homes back to their original grandeur so they reflect the grand quality of life in the early 20th Century,” he says, “and I’m fascinated by the interpretation of space. You can show the same home to five people, and you will get five different interpretations that will reflect the personality of each buyer.”

He counts himself among the fortunate: He and his wife of 34 years, Renee Bross Steinberg, who is a managing director of Warburg, live in one of the grand old mansions that they have dedicated themselves to restoring. The 40-foot-wide townhouse at 3 E. 75th St., which has been divided into six condos, was once the home of Irving Berlin. “The house belonged to his in-laws,” says Richard, “and it is where he wrote ‘White Christmas.’”

Richard's daughter Sarah Fiszel and son-in-law David Fiszel

Renee and Richard Steinberg, Ann Fisher, and Carla Goldworm

When Richard has free time, he’s most likely to be found on location hitting the ski slopes at his condo in Aspen or teeing off at his home in Palm Beach.

Regardless of where he works or plays, Richard, 55, revels in rearranging and redesigning spaces. It is, after all, like performing surgery, which is something he really does miss. “Our projects are elegant, understated and chic,” he says, adding that “real estate isn’t my career, it’s my passion.”

– Nancy A. Ruhling