On One of New York’s Oldest Streets, a Row House Gets a New Life

Before + AfterOn One of New York’s Oldest Streets, a Row House Gets a New LifeA green-stained wood kitchen and steel staircase steal the show in this major renovation

By Kate Reggev

Photography by Ty Cole

November 19, 2021

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email

AFTER: The row house is located on a historic street that breaks with New York City’s traditional rectilinear grid. “This is one of my favorite locations in the city,” Drew says.

Ty Cole

“When we first met the client, they told us they love color,” says architect Drew Lang, principal of the firm Lang Architecture. But when he initially visited one of his latest projects—a row house from the 1840s in New York City—it was far from the vibrant home they were after.

The home, described in the landmarks designation report as a “two-and-a-half story house in the Greek Revival style” that “still retains some of its original flavor” definitely felt that way on the inside. “We found it had very good bones,” Drew says, “with evidence of minor renovations over time, the last of which was likely 20 years ago.” The kitchen was at the rear of the house and featured glossy white cabinets and wood countertops—not exactly offensive, but not exactly fresh or design-forward either, like his clients, film producer Maria Feldman and tech entrepreneur Assaf Feldman, preferred.

BEFORE: The Think Construction team was introduced to the client very early in the process to achieve an aggressively scheduled renovation.

AFTER: “Classic and timeless with an infusion of bold color,” is how Drew describes the material and color palette.

Ty Cole

In their initial meetings, Drew, Maria, and Assaf focused on a desire to get more light into the house. They also wanted a new kitchen, in addition to a reconfiguring of the two upper floors to meet their family’s needs.

To address the issue of natural light, the firm decided to open up the rear wall on the parlor level that looks out onto a garden, creating a visual and physical connection between the house and the outdoors. They installed an oversized floor-to-ceiling, accordion-style folding door system, replacing a wall that contained a window and a glass door that led to the rear porch and yard.

AFTER: Natural materials steal the show in the kitchen, with wide board oak floors, stained oak cabinetry, and a suspended oak ceiling.

Ty Cole

This arrangement flooded the parlor level with light and allowed Lang Architecture to locate the dining room at the rear of the house near the window wall, the living room at the front facing the street, and the kitchen in the center of the parlor floor, at the heart of the home. The new kitchen would become one of the showcases of color in the home, where a classic and timeless material palette was combined with a bold infusion of color. “We proposed rift-cut white oak kitchen cabinetry with a green stain, and the client loved it,” Drew says.

AFTER: Lang Architecture’s scope included designing and installing a new kitchen, three bedrooms upstairs, two and a half bathrooms, a laundry room, plus an entry vestibule, and, crucially, replacing a section of the original stair that was in an unfortunate location right in front of the rear wall.

Ty Cole

Lang Architecture then tested out five rounds of stain application samples with cabinetmaker James Hegge of JH Works, looking for the perfect shade of green. The color was originally inspired by a Farrow & Ball green, but evolved to become its own custom color. A white oak slat ceiling was installed in the kitchen, concealing mechanical equipment, ductwork, and wiring. The countertops—Bleu de Savoie marble—and the wide-board oak floors round out the contemporary, but still warm, feel of the kitchen.

BEFORE: Because of the tight schedule constraint, the team didn’t have time to design and build an entirely new stair. Instead, they opted to remove one section of the stair that posed the biggest conflict with the rear wall.

AFTER: The new stair, made of steel, “allows light into the house while still allowing the stair to function,” Drew says.

Ty Cole

Critical to the completion of the light-filled kitchen was a rethinking of the existing stair run that blocked out lots of natural light. The upper section of the existing stair was located on the rear wall of the parlor floor—“the prime wall in the house we wanted to open up,” Drew says. The stair was then reconfigured and rebuilt to allow for the rear wall opening. “The new stair is light and porous,” Drew says. This is due to its new materials and layout. Contrasting with the closed risers, wood treads, and profiled spindles and banister of the existing stair, the new one proclaims its modernity with open risers and minimalist detailing.

AFTER: Drew was introduced to the client by a close colleague: A town house expert who represented the client in the home purchase.

Ty Cole

Yet the biggest challenge came not in the form of stair (and structural) gymnastics, but instead in schedule: Maria and Assaf were hoping to move into the renovated town house just six months after purchasing it—an aggressive timeline for such a big project. To make sure it was achievable during that period of time, Drew introduced Think Construction to the client, and they quickly joined the team. “We worked very closely with Think from the beginning of the project design process, all the way through construction,” Drew says.

In addition to the kitchen and work on the parlor level, Lang Architecture also reconfigured bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs and added a new laundry room and entry vestibule. The finishing touches on the town house came from a collaboration with William Lee of Modernlink—a Danish modern furniture gallery where most of the furniture was sourced—that added to the home’s palette of finely crafted, carefully considered pieces.

ExplorerenovationCleverbefore + after