Despite the many layers of paint and stain on the woodwork in this 1910 Brooklyn townhouse, its carvings were still quite intricate. There were vine motifs sweeping across window and door trim, serpent heads flanking the seat of the pier mirror, delicate fretwork fanning over the stairs, and even a face emerging from the newel post.

In 2021, a couple with a family were moving back to New York City after a five-year stint in California. While they expected to remodel whatever they found, after buying this house, their first priority was to save and refinish all its gorgeous wood. “It felt like a necessity,” says the wife. “I thought it was so beautiful and really wanted to be able to maintain the original character.”

Before: Foyer

During: Foyer

After: Foyer

Additionally, the couple, who have two children, were coming from a communal living situation in Berkeley—they lived in a two-unit house there with friends—and knew they wanted to recreate the same setup in New York. “It was really nice, especially during the pandemic, to be able to share meals and have the backyard space and just have a little bit of community,” the wife says.

Their Brooklyn townhouse was originally built by William M. Calder, a U.S. senator and such a prolific developer that the neighborhood where the home stands was once referred to as Calderville. The house was constructed as two units, with one on the garden level and the other occupying the two upper floors, but had since been divided into three separate apartments. The owners worked with architecture firm Dunham Robinson to reinstate the two-unit layout, earmarking the garden apartment for another family with whom they’re friends, with the caveat that the two homes would remain somewhat connected.

To that end, the backyard is now a “connector piece,” says firm cofounder and structural engineer Michael Dunham, allowing access to each unit by grand glass doors; an internal door between the apartments remains unlocked. “The kids are always going up and down,” says the husband. “They can commingle as they want.” Living next to each other makes it easy to trade off meal prep and school pick-ups, too, he adds.

For Dunham, and architect Rachel Robinson, the challenge was to remove the small, dark rooms created by the previous remodel without losing all that pretty woodwork. “It was intact and held a lot of promise for what this house could become,” Robinson recalls.

On the parlor level, they kept the foyer and entry vestibule in place, adding a coat closet for storage. Rooms were combined to create a living and dining room at the front and a larger kitchen and playroom/flex space at the rear. The dining room is big enough to seat everyone from both homes, plus extra family when they visit.

“It was too many doors and way too many walls, and now it’s all very open because we’ve hidden beams in the ceiling and opened up the back of the facade,” explains Dunham. Wide, cased doorways connect sight lines, create better circulation, and let light reach the entire floor.

“It was important that each room have its own distinct character, but that the colors flow together.”
—Rachel Robinson, architect

Before: Living Room

After: Living Room

Before: Dining Room

After: Dining Room

Since the couple like to cook, they enlarged the kitchen by removing a wall, added lots of storage space, and complemented it with a playroom/family room where both kids and adults can hang out and tromp through from the backyard.

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

Before: Playroom/Family Room

After: Playroom/Family Room

“One of the breakthrough moments was figuring out the top floor layout,” says Robinson. Specifically, the team was stumped on how to save an existing fretwork screen in the middle of the plan. “It was a little bit too open for a bathroom, so the challenge was, how do we close this off a little bit more?” Now, the screen is finished with double doors and opaque glass, serving as an entry for the primary en suite. It’s since become one of the couple’s favorite features.

“It’s so beautiful, just to be able to look at it every day and see how it was originally made,” says the wife, who feels similarly about all of the restored woodwork in the house. “It did feel like a splurge in the realm of our budget, but it was really well worth it.”

$8,820 Insulation	$6,171 Wall Finishes	$26,262 Tile
$9,634 Flooring	$12,858 Hardware	$39,690 Electrical
$61,100 Plumbing	$55,980 HVAC	$23,200 Wood Restoration
$17,200 Landscaping	$9,609 Kitchen & Bath Fixtures	$25,342 Lighting
$62,720 Cabinetry & Counters	$30,632 Appliances	$19,705 Windows & Glazing
$7,289 Doors	$43,144 Furnishings & Decor	$1,933 Permitting
$341,000 General Contractor/Labor	$11,428 Inspections	$19,845 Demolition
$2,205 Waste/Debris Removal	$925 Surveyor	$1,079 Other
Grand Total: $837,771

During: Rear Facade

After: Rear Facade

Early on in the design process, the wife remembers asking for “more, more, more” in terms of textures, colors, and patterns. Yet the palette was, to some degree, guided by the wood in the house. “As the wood was being uncovered, we let some of the existing features tell us what the rest of the palette should be,” says Robinson. “We didn’t know exactly what we would find when the contractors started stripping, so it was really exciting to uncover this very warm, rich, natural wood. Every time you look at it, I feel like you see something new.”

Before: Alcove

After: Primary Bathroom

More Budget Breakdown stories:

With $184K, a Brooklyn Couple Say Out With the Asbestos

A Brooklyn Brownstone Gets a Vibrant Renovation for $910K

Project Credits:

Architect: Dunham Robinson / @dunham_robinson

Builder: BNH Home

Structural Engineer: Dunham Robinson

Landscape Design: Shape Gardens

Lighting Design: Dunham Robinson

Interior Design: Dunham Robinson

Cabinetry: New York Woodwork

MEP Engineer: New York Building Engineering

Also Appears In

Budget Breakdown: An $838K Brooklyn Townhouse Renovation Keeps Two Families Connected