The usual width of a townhouse in New York City is about 18 to 20 feet. Priscilla Caldwell’s is a mere 14 feet wide. The art advisor, curator, and founder of Vail Caldwell Projects had walked past the house in the Cobble Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn for years and admits to having been a tiny bit obsessed. With good reason: The four-story, brick house caps a row of even smaller houses in the Warren Place Mews built in the late 19th-century as workers’ housing. “There is no mews more beautiful than this one,” architect Nate McBride declares.

Shop the Look

When it went on the market, Priscilla, who was living in a nearby carriage house, couldn’t resist making an offer. McBride, who had served with her on the board of SculptureCenter in Queens and had renovated one of the diminutive mews houses a few years back, was an obvious design partner.

Before: Basement Bedroom

After: Basement Bedrooms

Before: Entry

Attracted to the dwelling’s small size, location, and beautiful sunlight that streamed through the windows, but without an overall vision in mind, Priscilla deferred to McBride to come up with a plan. Before the total gut that left only a brick shell with a chimney and some joists intact, the interior layout followed classic townhouse protocol. That is, the stair was pushed against the exterior side wall on the left with a corridor alongside it, and a parlor with a fireplace next to that.

After: Entry

McBride illuminated the setup with some simple math. “A three-foot-wide stair plus a three-foot-wide passageway leaves a seven-and-a-half-foot parlor, which is a challenge to furnish,” the architect says. Then, inspiration struck. What if he moved the stair to the back wall to allow the rooms to span the full 14-foot width? The new layout makes each floor into its own 14-by-23-foot loft-like space. "Think of them as three stacked mini lofts,” McBride says.

Before: Dining Room

After: Dining Room

Before: Stairs

The second big idea was to wind the staircase behind a block that would also house the mechanicals. “We condensed the storage and equipment and loaded it into a core that runs through each floor,” McBride explains. “It also ties the floors together spatially and experientially.”

After: Stairs

Before: Kitchen

Relegating her 20-something daughters’ rooms to the basement for privacy, Priscilla requested that the kitchen be on an upper floor for great light and be front row to activity on the street. They decided on the back half of the parlor level where the core, hand-painted in Farrow & Ball’s Stiffkey Blue, contains all the appliances. “Like a boat, everything you need is in the block,” McBride says.

After: Kitchen

A furniture-like island separates the kitchen from the dining area in the front half of the house, where a polished mahogany dining table that Priscilla bought years ago from a friend of her mother’s—and that has followed her around ever since—sets a cozy tone upon arrival.

As for arrival, it occurs exactly there. “You expect to have a second to acclimate instead of, ‘Welcome!’” Priscilla says. Still, it works. McBride adds, “Coming home to your kitchen is a way of life in Brooklyn; it feels very warm.”

The stair runs behind the blue core, and the kitchen appliances are tucked into it. Priscilla finds the kitchen to be more efficient than her prior, much larger one. A Walton Ford print from Kasmin gallery hangs on the side wall. Priscilla is curating "Stuart Davis in Havana" at the gallery this June." layout="wide" credit="Read McKendree / JBSA" photoUserId=""/>

Before: Dining Room Fireplace

After: Dining Room Fireplace

Before: Office

After: Office

Art books fill the core on the second floor in the office area. McBride likens the structure here to a credenza, with the desk analogous to the kitchen island on the floor below. “It’s a consistent template with a cutout for storage and a piece of furniture that makes the core usable,” he says. Most recently, Priscilla has been organizing a show of 1920 watercolors by Stuart Davis for the Kasmin gallery in Manhattan, which opens in June.

Before: Living Room

After: Living Room

The living room offers enough floor space for Priscilla to spread out, her books just a few feet away. She meets with clients in here by day and curls up in front of the fire with a glass of wine and sometimes a friend in the evening. “The design of the house is very thoughtful,” Priscilla says. “I use each space as intended.”

Before: Top Floor Landing

The top floor is Priscilla’s private sanctuary—her bedroom and bath. Here, McBride bisects the core to create a dressing area with closets on either side. It leads into a tile-lined bath brilliantly lit from above, compliments of a skylight that covers the entire room, walk-in shower included.

“You wind up and up and up around the core as the ceilings come down, compressing space,” McBride says, relaying that the ceiling height decreases on each story. “Then, you get to the top and bang-o, the roof is punched off. This light-drenched space is the culmination of the ascent.”

After: Dressing Room

“This light-drenched space is the culmination of the ascent.”
—Nate McBride, architect

Before: Bathrooms

After: Primary Bath

Before: Primary Bedroom

After: Primary Bedroom

reat Barrington, Massachusetts, the table lamp is by Christopher Spitzmiller, and the vintage rug came from a dealer in Cleveland. With her daughter's help, Priscilla carried the (since reupholstered) Jonathan Adler chair home from his shop on Atlantic Avenue. "The store was closing, so the chair was so cheap that having it delivered would have cost more than the chair itself," the homeowner says. The oil and enamel painting is by Kate Shepherd from Galerie Lelong & Co. in Chelsea." layout="" credit="Read McKendree / JBSA" photoUserId=""/>

More Before & After:

A Narrow Row House in Brooklyn Stretches for the Sun

An Architect Couple in Amsterdam Turn a Garage Into a Gauzy, Light-Filled Home

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: McBride Architects / @mcbridearchitects
Builder: ConA.L.L. Construction & Design / @a.l.l._construction_and_design
Structural engineer: Hage Engineering PC
Interior Furnishings & Lighting Design: Nastasi Vail Design