16 Minetta Lane

This townhouse, located in the historic Greenwich Village in Manhattan, involved the gut renovation of a century old home and rear stable. Rather than demolishing and build anew, the owners decided to leave the shells intact and create a new interior and a vertical extension that respected its past, but was not enslaved by it.

The primary new façade was pulled back from the original one, forming a front courtyard, thus maintaining the original streetscape. The house takes its primary design cues from historical accounts of Great Oak Trees crossing over the legendary Minetta Brook, which ran underneath the home. The current trees lining the Brook, form a series of Gothic Arches which inspired the steel façade and, in a similar manner, will be covered in Ivy, adding a green wall terminus to the street and an appreciated public gesture.

The house has several other allusions to its rural origins. From the conceptual: a triple height living room being the analogue to the hollows found in the base of most trees providing protection to its inhabitants, to the literal: Most of the wood was harvested from the owners’ property upstate and used throughout to form the flooring and wood detailing throughout. Additionally, the nine fireplaces located throughout the home provide a viable alternate fuel source. [plus the incorporation of solar panels]

The home is programmed to have smaller service spaces working in tandem with larger adjacent served spaces. Thus the bedrooms have a secondary work/office space adjacent to them. A mid level convertible open space demarcates the original home from the new floors above. A rooftop cooking area offers precious outdoor space, and for reasons practical and otherwise, an 83’ artificial rock-climbing wall [the tallest east of Nevada] is situated in the rear courtyard, providing surreal urban experiences.