Garden Place Townhouse

Garden Place is a short street in Brooklyn Heights with splendid
19th century residential architecture of different periods. This
particular house dates from the 1840s, with Greek Revival details
on the street façade. In the 1980s the house was divided into two
large apartments. Our clients’ apartment, occupying three floors in
the top of the building, had been modified to include a skylit double
height space taking over part of the old attic.
Over time, the 1980s renovations had grown tired, and the space
had been subdivided in ways that fought against the intrinsic
elegance of the building. Our renovation was conceptually a
‘deep cleaning,’ like polishing an old artifact that had grown crusty.
Though not immediately apparent in the finished product, substantial
structural modifications were required to create a more sensible
and gracious flow of spaces.
To highlight the unexpected nature of the double-height space,
we clad the remaining sections of the old attic in walnut planks,
which continue onto the ceiling of the living room below – and
surprisingly – into the interior of low-ceilinged, Hobbit-like attic
room. Materials were carefully selected to be both earthy and
modern. A terrace designed by Julie Farris of XS Space extends the
interior language of the apartment into the outdoors and gives this
upper floor apartment a backyard garden.

Completed 2022
Photographs: Julian Wass
Styling: Carin Scheve
General Contractor: REDOnyc
Landscape Design: Julie Farris, XS Space
Loose Furnishings: Mims Design Co
Structural Engineering: Ross Dalland, P.E.
Mechanical Engineering: On Point Engineering 1