Kingman Place Renovation

The project conjoins adjacent rowhouses, transforming dark, cellular spaces into a more gracious, single open plan for living and entertaining. Both houses are contributing historic resources, so altering the facades was prohibited, and all major structural elements, as well as the street-facing facades, were protected by the city.

The combined width allowed the design to shed the typological constraints of a standard rowhouse. The stair could disengage from the shared party walls, and the orientation of the main rooms could rotate and take advantage of the windows in the front and rear.

The material palette of the house is intended to showcase the modern spaces while maintaining the tactility and soulfulness of vintage townhouses. The public spaces are treated in mottled Venetian plaster, the floors and stair stringers are warm white oak, the millwork is bleached walnut and the lower part of the stair column is clad in bronze and woven fabric panels, which provide a textured visual foundation to the intricate staircase.