When we were hired to renovate a home in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, our clients asked us to rethink a typical NYC Pre-War apartment layout to better suit modern living, while maintaining the spirit of the place. The basis of our solution was to remove a number of walls and combine rooms to create a large common area. We also introduced a distinctively modern floor-to-ceiling wall cabinet that encompasses the kitchen, storage, and home office. What used to occupy a series of rooms is now arranged in a single piece of millwork, leaving much of the apartment as open space filled with natural light.

To maintain the Pre-War charm of the apartment, we selectively preserved and replicated some of the original building details. We also eliminated dropped ceilings that were not original to the apartment’s design, reintroducing greater ceiling heights and exposing the structural beams. That change created a perfect balance between quintessential Pre-War character and an urbane modern aesthetic.