Seating from Montauk Sofa in the soaring,
sun-filled living room anchored by the original
Cloud XL light fixture from Apparatus.
An Endless lamp from Roll & Hill illuminates the
kitchen’s oxidized maple and lacquered surfaces.
When Studio DB was still just a small firm, with a few compact urban renovations in its portfolio, the owners of this house liked what they saw, enough to entrust us to design our first large-scale project—a complete five-story town house in downtown Manhattan. Located on a beautiful cobblestone street and graced with a traditional cast-iron and brick facade, the 1920 building had a lot going for it. But when it had been converted from a commercial building to a residence years earlier, we felt some opportunities had been missed. With the help of one of our favorite builders and our network of craftspeople, we completely opened up the house by giving it an extensive new steel structure, including a steel staircase with a rolled-edge handrail and treads made from individual pieces of reclaimed teak and metal laminated together. On the top floor, we put a glass walkway over joists so sunlight can flood down the stairwell into the entire structure. These changes make the home feel like one continuous space. Of course, we were just as focused on the smaller details and gave the home personality, with elements such as wallpaper based on an antique map of New York Harbor, children’s rooms with concealed doors that allowed the spaces to connect, and a roof terrace with a sofa hung from a pergola on ropes, an urban porch swing.
The striking blackened-steel railing structure
visually connects the town house’s five floors.
The new staircase with treads made of
laminated widths of reclaimed teak and steel.
The kitchen and dining space are the hub
of activity on the expansive living floor.
A view of the basketball court through the custom
steel and glass doors built by Argosy Designs.
A sophisticated personal gym with a
colorful assortment of weights.
Weight storage is integrated into the
building's cast iron structure.
A custom CNC-milled climbing wall
with a backlit map of New York City.
The roof deck provides multiple zones for
gardening, entertaining and relaxing.
The basketball court seen in action.
General Contractor: Faro Building Corp.
Millwork: Bigtime Dynamo; Faro Building Corp.
Architectural Metals: Argosy Designs
Architect of Record: Kevin Byrne Architects PC
Structural Engineer: Ross Dalland, P.E.
Studio DB Team: Britt Zunino, Damian Zunino, Kate Gray, Deric Mizokami, Sunny Salkar, Ben Sandell
