House on 89th Street, New York, New York

The project is the gut renovation of an 1890s Renaissance Revival townhouse in Manhattan. The house had gone through successive renovations and had fallen into disrepair.  Heavy Victorian woodwork combined with 1970s brown and orange color schemes, and textured plaster gave the interior a musty, ominous air.

Nevertheless, the house was large and well located near Central Park, with generous ceiling heights and solid construction.  The brief was to renovate the house as a modern dwelling for a family, with an emphasis on openness and natural light.  The house required new finishes throughout, along with upgraded systems.

Of original historic details, only the front elevation window surrounds and a few fireplaces remain.  The strategy for the project was to play off the stolid, heavy, late 19th century shell with a modern interior facing the garden.  A narrow four-story extension was added to the rear of the house, with a glass curtain wall to bring in soft northern light.  While rooms facing the street retain classical proportions and a sense of intimacy, the spaces facing the garden have loft-like dimensions and emphasize a connection with the outdoors.

At the garden level a wall of wood panels runs the length of the house and draws the visitor from the street to the interior.  The panels hide various practical functions, including a secret stair to the floors above and below.  At the rear, a double-height dining room is set against a 20-foot high expanse of glass.  The first floor living room looks across the double-height space to the glass wall and enjoys the 12-foot ceiling height of the original parlor level.  From the first floor a minimally detailed stair winds up through the house against a multi-story wall of brick that has been stripped of plaster and painted bright white.

In discrete locations the overall light palette is punctuated by deep, saturated colors and materials, creating points of contrast.

Photographs: Michael Moran, Julian Wass, Navajeet Khatri / Styling: Carin Scheve
Project Team: Vrinda Khanna, Veronica Patrick, Robert Schultz
General Contractor: J and J Johnson
Landscape Design: Staghorn NYC
Structural Engineering: Ross Dalland, P.E.
​Mechanical Engineering: On Point Engineering