Karen L. Jacobson Architects Studio

West 11th Street

The five story Greenwich Village brownstone was restored from a maze of small apartments to its original use as a single-family home. The clients wanted to maintain some of the details and flavor of the historic house but also wanted to open it up to complement their contemporary lifestyle. The brownstone is divided functionally by floors. The family spends most of its time on the garden level; the top three floors are bedroom levels for children, parents and guests. A large section was cutout of the floor between the family living and the more formal entertaining space. At that cutout section, the rear wall was removed and replaced with oversized steel and glass windows. The resulting style is one of comfortable elegance. This renovation was featured on the cover of the New York Times Fall Home Design Magazine.