BROOKLYN HEIGHTS RESIDENCE

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

SINGLE FAMILY | RESIDENTIAL

BROOKLYN, NY (BROOKLYN HEIGHTS)
2,350 SF | INTERIOR GUT RENOVATION

With a team assembled for the complete renovation of the residence, the outset existed without definitive pre-conceptions about how the apartment would be transformed. Nestled in the lower floors of a building constructed in 1927 with its views out over the Brooklyn Promenade, there were open paths ahead on details, colors, finishes and furniture. Preliminary conversations and meetings helped to crystalize the collective goal of creating a home that carried the presence and familiarity of a New York Pre-war apartment.

The goal of honoring the time period of the building and its history marked the starting point of the creative journey. Over time, our collective understanding grew to identify the statement as an aspiration for the nature of pre-war articulation (proportion, depth, articulation) rather than the replication of historic details. Though challenging at times, the balance between historically inspired and decidedly ‘current’ provided the foundation that guided the project’s evolution.

The result became a home that celebrated the realities of historic layout and spatial allocation while making no effort to mislead anyone of its time and place. The smaller and segmented kitchen—designed originally as a utilitarian enclave for staff—was expanded and sewn together with adjoining spaces of main corridor, butler’s pantry and rear entry. Its functions became a pinwheel of distribution rather than more contemporary standard of rear service bar and parallel island.

The grand spaces of living room, dining room and study remained separated be pocket doors to allow for either privacy of use or the open wash of afternoon light across all spaces together. The tradition connection of dining to kitchen took the form of a pantry defined by a double-sided china cabinet, arguably the jewel of the project, flanked by double-swing doors for a porous interface of utility and storage that light could traverse between spaces. Each pair of bedroom and en suite bathroom were toggled with both circulation and closets to enhance privacy and maximize storage.

While the custom trim packages of wainscoting and crown throughout draw a familiar reflection to shadow line and layering of forms, they are decidedly current in their assembly and became one of the key ways that the client could achieve her affinity for pre-war architecture without the reconstruction of replicated designs.

Project Team: