The Insider: Gut Renovation Elegantly Resolves Challenges of Angular Park Slope Prewar

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The uniquely shaped apartment in a 1928 landmark building off Grand Army Plaza created both opportunities and challenges for the Gowanus-based architecture firm Khanna Schultz, which was hired to gut-renovate the space for new owners.

Designed by architect Rosario Candela, best known for buildings on Park Avenue and Sutton Place, the structure is a 16-story “flatiron” built with then-new steel-frame technology. Its distinctive narrow prow was determined by its location on a wedge-shaped site where the ellipse of Grand Army Plaza meets the Brooklyn street grid.

On the plus side, the high-floor apartment was flooded with light, with marvelous city and park views through traditional six-over-one sash windows (now replaced with more energy-efficient versions) and beamed ceilings that are signatures of prewar New York architecture.

On the minus, said architect Robert Schultz, who, along with Vrinda Khanna is one of the firm’s principals, “It was divided into discrete rooms, almost as if the architecture was trying to resolve this peculiar shape by making rectangular rooms, with funny leftover spaces created by the process.”

Khanna Schultz’s primary goal was to open up and modernize the apartment for the new homeowners, a couple with a fine collection of modern furniture and art, while still retaining three bedrooms — a primary bedroom, a guest room, and a third bedroom to be used as a study.

The final plan emphasizes long axial views. “Now you can really see from one end of the apartment to the other, which you could not do before,” Schultz said.

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Another prime consideration, said architect Navjeet Khatri, a lead member of the project team, was “making sure we weren’t blocking light coming from the very long expanse of windows, while carefully placing doors to create long gallery walls” for the display of art. Given the relatively low ceilings, lighting was a challenge, Khatri said, resolved with the use of compact LED fixtures to fit the shallow coves available.

Bright white walls and pale oak floors enhance the gallery-like setting for the clients’ array of African art, contemporary art, and mid-century furniture.  

A custom egg-shaped light cove hovers above the entry foyer, creating a distinctive transition from the outside world to the dreamy atmosphere of the apartment.

One structural column in the open living/dining room had to be left standing; it was treated as a design element.

A huge sliding pocket door of blackened steel and glass separates the kitchen from the rest of the space when needed, but doesn’t interfere with the openness of the long expanse.

The new kitchen incorporates a couple of smaller rooms and closets. “We opened it up and simplified the space,” Schultz said. “It was a tricky room to design because its three windows take up wall space that might have been used for various functions.”

Custom millwork includes white lacquered wood cabinets with dark gray accents and recessed pulls and an island with a waterfall marble top.

The primary bedroom has a dresser and ‘Bubble’ pendant by George Nelson, a leading light of mid-20th-century design.

One of the new millwork closets is angled inside to allow the room to maintain a rectangular shape.

At the far end of the apartment, beyond the living room (top photo), is the “prow room,” set up as an area for desk work, with enough space for a sofa and TV. The architects managed to fit a small storage room and a powder room between the living room and the prow.

The walls of the primary bath are swathed in marble tile.

Horizontal bands of gray tile distinguish the powder room in the area between the living room and the prow.

[Photos by Julian Wass]

The Insider is Brownstoner’s weekly in-depth look at a notable interior design/renovation project, by design journalist Cara Greenberg. Find it here every Thursday morning.

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