No Small Plans: 10 Townhome Floor Plans Outfitted for the 21st Century
From gut renovations to interior overhauls, these projects illustrate the scope and difficulty of updating a Brooklyn dwelling with historic charm.
From gut renovations to interior overhauls, these projects illustrate the scope and difficulty of updating a Brooklyn dwelling with historic charm.
This is No Small Plans, a series where we highlight some of Dwell’s best floor plans for real, practical inspiration.
New York City is ever changing. Almost 28,000 residential units were added to new buildings in 2023 alone, and as of the beginning of this year, upwards of 100,000 more have been permitted and are ready to build. With residential buildings lasting an average of just under 60 years in the U.S., it can be assumed that all this new housing is taking the place of the old.
Amidst this constant renewal, the row houses lining many of Brooklyn's streets stand out all the more for their increasingly rare historic charm. Making one fit for modern living, however, is no mean feat. Would-be home owners have to wade through a mire of red-tape, strict building codes, and undoing a hundred year's worth of patchwork renovations. But it can be done, and we've collected some of our favorite renovations of Brooklyn townhomes to show just how.
Park Slope Brownstone Renovation by Sarah Jacoby Architect
After buying a well-preserved brownstone in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood, a couple lived in their new home for more than half a year to find out firsthand what needed to be updated. "It was a blessing," the pair say. "We got to see how we use the space and develop an appreciation for what was here." Architect Sarah Jacoby was then brought in to help renovate the kitchen, bathrooms, and utilities while embracing the home’s original quirks.
"People often buy a house and want it to feel like a loft—they want it to be light-filled, they want their kitchen somewhere else," Jacoby says. "[These clients] were willing, and excited, to accept the house for what it is—which is a dark, moody house that’s beautiful."
Photo by Ty Cole
Powers Street by Hatchet Design + Build
Working closely with designer Matt Ransom of Hatchet Design + Build, Jake Hurwitz and Jillian Vogel reversed decades of piece-meal renovations to their unconventional Brooklyn row house. "When something is renovated incrementally like that," says Ransom, "we need to pull everything back to start fresh and build up from there." While the couple was able to preserve original features like the central staircase, much was beyond saving. The couple tried to recreate what had been lost either through what Horwitz foraged from a local demolition yard or interventions like changing out the mismatching windows with ones that brought in more light and bore closer resemblance to the originals.
"What’s interesting about this type of house is that it’s not an august brownstone, but it would have had some of those same details on the interiors," says Ransom. "So, they wanted to restore without creating a total facsimile." While a lot of these details had been lost in the years of continual renovations, pieces like the marble fireplace found at a local demolition yard helped to imbue the home with historic character.
Photo by Matthew Williams
See the full story on Dwell.com: No Small Plans: 10 Townhome Floor Plans Outfitted for the 21st Century
