The nice thing about being in business for 35 years is that you get a chance to design and build homes and offices for the children of your earlier clients. The bad thing is that you realize you are building homes and offices for clients who you remember being in strollers. In this townhouse, our clients were two sisters. When we first met them, one was five years old and the other was under a year. Over the years we stayed close and celebrated their bat mitzvahs, graduations, weddings and the births of their own children. So, when it came to what they wanted in their new homes, it was very simple. Ask Mom! Their mother and Andrew had planned and built many homes by this point, so it was wonderfully comfortable territory.

 

We created two duplexes, one on top of the other, that shared a fire stair, elevator, cellar play area, exercise and laundry rooms. With NYC townhouses, the challenge is always natural light, especially for the lower floors. So, we created a light core on the upper two floors that not only added daylight to the top two floors, and also gave light to the main staircase of the lower two floors. 

 

The style was classic New York, but clean. No heavy moldings. And, knowing each client so well, one was beige and one was grey. But both were wonderful to work with. Mazel tov!