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Before & After: Brooklyn Heights Trifecta

Design
Upgraded, double-loaded kitchen with a small island, blue countertops, and interesting semi-flush light fixtures in a Brooklyn Heights home
Peter Peirce

This project came along with several unique, exciting features - an 1840s Gothic revival home in excellent condition, 25 feet wide, and located on a Brooklyn Heights single-block Place.

What was the catch? There were some challenges:

  • No reasonably sized, family-friendly kitchen on the parlor level. The original proportions, composition, and details of the parlor rooms are so gracious that it seemed impossible to make space for an adequate kitchen without sacrificing them.

  • No family room or play space for the kids. The logical place for a family room was a dark, damp, low space crisscrossed with steam pipes. The rear yard was tight up against the house, making the room feel underground. The original walk-in kitchen hearth remained.

  • Out of date heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and other utility systems.

  • Poorly operating and poorly fitting "single-sided, weight and chain Gothic Revival windows; a rarity.

After Upgraded, double-loaded kitchen with a small island, blue countertops, and interesting semi-flush light fixtures in a Brooklyn Heights home
Before Narrow, single-loaded kitchen in Brooklyn Heights townhome before our renovation
The existing kitchen was a single-loaded strip kitchen in a glorified hallway.

By reinforcing parlor floor joists, we were able to accommodate a double-loaded, modern kitchen with room for the whole family.

After Rear garden floor of a Brooklyn Heights townhouse with a new areaway leading up to the rear yard and two sets of French doors leading outside
Before Basement of a Brooklyn Heights Gothic Revival townhouse before our renovation
To prevent the den from feeling too underground, we removed enough earth to create a lower terrace outside the garden floor.

Full glass doors provide plenty of natural light and relief from the sense of confinement in the original cellar. A polished concrete floor preserved as much ceiling height as possible.

After Informal dining area with newly restored wood floors and windows, wood circular table with black chairs, leading out to the rear yard of a Brooklyn Heights home
Before Informal dining area with exposed brick and glass doors leading out to a side patio in a Brooklyn Heights home, before our renovation.
We rehabilitated the 170-year-old windows by consolidating all weakened wood components, restoring original profiles, weather-stripping, repairing or replacing chains and weights, and replacing the panes.

Throughout the house, we replaced mechanicals with lower-profile, high-performance alternatives that allow original detail to be preserved.

Before & After Journal

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