Grand Street Residence
New York City. Completed in 2007.
This duplex started out as two 850 square foot apartments in the 1950’s era Hillman Housing portion of Co-op Village on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. Our client wanted to connect the apartments with a new stair and rearrange the apartment layout to have the kitchen and entertaining spaces along with a large office and studio downstairs, and a family room and bedrooms upstairs. We stripped the building right back to it’s concrete structure and left the painted concrete beams, which had a beautiful sculptural quality.
The kitchen was completely rebuilt and opened up to the dining area. A large lacquered core of cabinets holds a broom closet, pull-out pantry, and a lit display niche for artwork. The client is a photographer and she wanted to be able to change the photos on display, so we built a photo shelves and lots of display spaces throughout the duplex.
The office and studio is separated from the entry by cabinets that combine oak, lacquered wood and acid-etched glass, which lets light from the studio windows filter into the entry. The new stair has cantilevered solid oak treads supported by powder-coated steel and a stainless steel railing. The open treads screen views to the dining area and city skyline from the entry.
Upstairs a wall of lacquered cabinets and closets with a laser cut pattern runs the length of one wall. A window seat with storage below has a bookshelf built into the side for her daughter’s favourite books.
