Architectural Digest Middle East: May 2024
This Renovated New York Brownstone’s Handsome Garden Is the Real Star of the Show.
BY AMY BRADFORD | PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRITTANY AMBRIDGE
Once a bohemian artists’ retreat, the home now offers a fresh take on classic West Village townhouse style.
With it's unique history, this New York brownstone was always a class apart from the rest; and now, a head-to-toe renovation befitting its distinguished architecture and heritage, has breathed new life into it.
West Village brownstones notoriously attract buyers from the cultural elite, but it’s not only today’s celebrities who have found them alluring. This grand 1831 West Village brownstone, for example, was once home to the painter Clara Davidge, who, around the turn of the last century, built its dainty carriage house as a writer’s retreat for the poet Edwin Arlington Robinson. By the 1920s, the whole house had become an artists’ enclave, and in the midcentury era, it was a gathering point for the likes of novelist Willa Cather, Beat poet Allen Ginsberg and singer Patti Smith.
Recently, the house has undergone another metamorphosis, becoming a vibrant, relaxed home for a young family of six. In need of some modernisation, it was entrusted to New York firm Lichten Architects and Hamptons-based interior designer Alicia Murphy, whose work “balances a modern edge with warmth, light and liveability”. Big fans of entertaining, the family wanted their new home to be “welcoming and casual”, but with a dash of elegance. “They’re very unpretentious people, so we tried to meld their personal style with the level of formality dictated in a home of this nature,” Murphy explains. “Many of our design conversations were about how to fit all their family and friends in the house.”
The five-storey home’s powder-blue front door signposts the lightheartedness of the new interior, where blue tones are a recurring theme. In the entrance vestibule, graphic black-and-white wallpaper from Porter Teleo forms a strong contrast with vivid teal paintwork; in a cosy sitting niche adjoining the cream-toned living room (furnished with a curvy sofa from Dmitriy & Co and vintage 1950s Lady armchairs by Marco Zanuso), sapphire tones sing out from the floor to the ceiling, which is covered in a bold wallpaper by Zak & Fox.
There’s more blue, in the form of an ombré carpet runner by Jamie Stern Design, on the house’s spectacular spiral staircase – the centrepiece of the new design. “It creates a five-storey lightwell at the heart of the house, and serves as the perfect showcase for a custom-made Kuulas chandelier from Cameron Design House,” says Murphy. Measuring over 200ft tall and constructed from clusters of glass “pearls”, this design exudes art gallery-style drama. As you move towards the uppermost floors, it becomes more breathtaking still, topped by a stained-glass skylight in cerulean hues.
The house’s tight footprint necessitated some clever thinking on layout. In order to free up space, Murphy designated the lower floor as a zone for the children, which allows them to have “a more flexible space to hang out and study beyond their bedrooms”. The master bedroom is decorated simply in soft grey and white with a marble en suite and white dressing room, and, as elsewhere in the house, colourful art is used to add character; in this case, a bold abstract by young American painter Frank Chiodo.
Given the family’s love of entertaining, there are also plenty of features designed with socializing in mind, notably a glamorous drinks bar clad in grey marble and antiqued mirror glass.
As for the carriage house, it’s now a wood-panelled TV room with a bespoke sofa, streamlined Apparatus lighting and a plaid armchair and ottoman by Atelier Purcell. With its modern farmhouse feel and open fireplace, it’s ideal for cosy gatherings when the weather’s chilly.
The real star of the show, however, is the handsome garden that serves as an extension of the home. Elegantly landscaped – with a mix of potted shrubs and raised beds overflowing with perennials (which makes maintenance a breeze) – and decorated with atmospheric string pendant lights by Bover, it transforms a typical New York terrace (albeit, those are indeed rare real estate gems) into an oasis of calm. The custom fountain by landscape designers RKLA Studio adds a period detail, whilst outdoor room-style Dedon seating and a dining table from Royal Botania make it the perfect place to gather family and friends.
All in all, Murphy concludes, this “forever home” is a youthful take on classic New York brownstone living: comfortable and unpretentious, yet still refined. “It lends itself to being both a showpiece and a family home - we really strove to straddle those two lines.”
