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Brooklyn-based Barker Architecture Office renovated a four-story, landmarked brownstone in Clinton Hill for an empty-nester couple moving from Tribeca. The design pairs surviving historic features with bold color, contemporary materials, the owners’ art collection and spaces suited to family gatherings and private retreats.
Brooklyn-based Barker Architecture Office (BAAO) has renovated a four-story, landmarked 19th-century brownstone in Clinton Hill for a couple who moved from a Tribeca townhouse. The project preserves surviving architectural details while introducing saturated color, contemporary finishes and spaces arranged around the homeowners’ art collection and family life, according to a report by Design Milk.
The owners, described in the report as empty nesters, wanted the house to accommodate midcentury furniture and contemporary art without losing the warmth of a historic home. The building had previously been divided into short-term rentals, and much of its original ornamentation had been removed. BAAO retained the elements that remained and set them against clean-lined modern additions rather than attempting to recreate missing historic details.
Color establishes the sequence from the entrance onward: deep olive doors open to a terracotta vestibule, with a sunny-yellow staircase and red runner visible inside. On the parlor floor, diagonally laid white oak boards reference Victorian parquet. In the living room, surviving plaster crown molding frames a working fireplace finished in textured porcelain tile; a Richard Tuttle chandelier hangs from a restored plaster rosette.
The reconfigured kitchen wraps around the room’s perimeter, with custom white oak cabinets, honed soapstone counters and a lilac marble backsplash. In place of a conventional island, the architects put a dining table beneath vintage aluminum pendants. Below, the garden level combines a bright family room opening onto the landscaped garden with a darker library featuring walnut shelves and Hans Wegner chairs. The upper floors provide a primary suite and three bedrooms for the couple’s adult children, arranged around a skylit lounge.
A Historic Shell, Reworked for Family Life
The renovation shows how a home with substantial changes from its former use can be adapted without treating it as a blank slate or trying to restore every lost period detail. BAAO’s approach, as described by Design Milk, relies on the contrast between surviving plasterwork and new materials to make the building’s different layers legible.
The layout also reflects the owners’ practical priorities. A dining table anchors the kitchen as a place to gather, a family room connects directly to the garden, and a separate library provides a quieter setting. The upper-floor bedrooms give visiting adult children their own space. These choices make the house’s visual program—its colors, art and furniture—part of a plan for how the couple uses the home, rather than decoration alone.
The report does not provide a renovation budget, construction timeline or measured performance data. Its significance is therefore architectural and residential: it documents one design studio’s response to a specific historic house and household, not a broader measure of how common or affordable this approach is in Brooklyn.
Victorian parquet white oak flooring
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From Short-Term Rentals to a Home
The brownstone is in Clinton Hill, a Brooklyn neighborhood with substantial historic housing. The owners moved there from a townhouse in Tribeca, seeking a different setting for their next chapter. The source describes the building as a landmarked 19th-century house but does not identify a specific landmark designation or provide details about the approvals required for the work.
Before the renovation, the house had been divided into short-term rentals. That use had removed much of its original ornamentation, leaving BAAO with a limited number of historic features to preserve. The studio’s design responds to that condition through restraint in its treatment of the remaining fabric and more expressive choices in color, lighting, tile and furnishings.
Design Milk’s report, written by Adrian Madlener, presents the project through its rooms and materials, with photography by Gieves Anderson. It describes BAAO’s wider design approach as combining clear spatial planning, color and material contrasts while respecting historic settings. That characterization is the publication’s account of the firm’s practice, rather than an independent evaluation of the renovation.
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Project Details Not Published
The report does not state when construction began or finished, how much the renovation cost, or whether the work received awards or formal preservation recognition. It also does not name the homeowners or explain which specific original features were lost when the building was converted to short-term rentals.
Design Milk describes the brownstone as landmarked, but does not provide details about the designation, the review process or any preservation conditions. The article also offers no energy, accessibility or other performance assessments, so the project’s effects in those areas cannot be determined from the published account.
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No Further Milestone Reported
Design Milk’s account presents the renovation as a completed residential project and does not identify a pending construction phase, public event or future announcement. BAAO’s work can be understood from the published description and photographs, but the report does not say whether the firm or owners plan further changes.
Additional details would depend on information from the homeowners, the architecture studio or relevant preservation records, including the project’s timeline, cost and landmark review. Until then, the available account documents the home’s design and stated brief without establishing those broader project details.
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Key Questions
Who renovated the Clinton Hill brownstone?
Barker Architecture Office (BAAO), a Brooklyn-based architecture practice, led the renovation, according to Design Milk.
What was the homeowners’ goal?
The couple wanted the historic house to accommodate their midcentury furniture and contemporary art while creating a warmer, more colorful interior.
What historic features remain?
The report identifies original plaster crown molding and a plaster rosette in the living room, along with other surviving architectural elements. It does not provide a full inventory of what remains.
How is the home organized?
The four-story house includes a parlor-floor living room and kitchen, a garden level with a family room and library, a primary suite, and three bedrooms for the owners’ adult children arranged around a skylit lounge.
How much did the renovation cost?
The published report does not give a budget or disclose the construction timeline.
Source: rss
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