Monday, December 10, 2012
Inside Five Archetypal Brooklyn Spaces
Posted by Kristin Iversen on Mon, Dec 10, 2012 at 6:25 AM
A nighttime walk down any Brooklyn street offers the opportunity to peer into lighted windows and fulfill our most voyeuristic tendencies. Each window—whether a part of the floor-to-ceiling glass expanses that cover the condos on the Williamsburg waterfront or the leaded-glass panes on century-old brownstones in Brooklyn Heights—offers a framed glimpse into the infinitely varied interiors of Brooklyn.
The spaces of Brooklyn can hardly be contained—they multiply seemingly overnight—but what follows are a selection of some of Brooklyn’s most sought-afer interiors: the brownstone, the converted warehouse, the microspace, the mansion, the glass condo. Each space represents one of Brooklyn’s multitudes, each interior designed to inspire wonder about the possibilities inherent within.
Photo Clement Pascal
The Brownstone
Perhaps the most sought-after Brooklyn space, the brownstone offers the chance to live in a home with towering ceilings, inlaid hardwood floors, and ornately carved mouldings. But the best of these interiors subverts this historic tradition, and Michael Karam’s is no exception. Karam both honored the space and had fun with it, injecting levity by displaying a candelabra in a non-working fireplace and using mid-century modern furniture to complement the lines of the interior.
Slideshow
Photo Clement Pascal
The Mansion
The sprawling Victorian mansions that dot Ditmas Park are not only of Brooklyn, but also of a totally other time and place. This particular mansion once belonged to novelist Joseph O’Neill and magazine editor Sally Singer, and is now a home to the Carver-Ryland family and their backyard fig farm. Having a farm in Brooklyn evokes the days when the borough was nothing but old homesteads and rambling houses, and this home embodies that history while looking to the future.
Slideshow
Photo Sara Macel
The Microspace
One of the universal experiences of New York living is learning to make the most out of the smallest spaces. The way that Andrew and Emily Roth decorated this microspace proves that more is more. Instead of minimizing, the Roths leave everything out in the open—books, kitchenware, bicycles hang from the ceiling—proving that just because you live in a small space, doesn’t mean you live a small life.
Slideshow
Photo Shay Harrington
The Converted Warehouse
The converted warehouse is the perfect interior blank slate just waiting to be written on. David Alhadeff, the creative force behind Brooklyn shop Future Perfect, has transformed this loft space into a home—with a neon sign hanging over a tufted, bottle-green leather couch and mismatched chairs around a glass table, it is full of the kind of where-did-you-get-those pieces that he sells at his Williamsburg store, making what was once an industrial warehouse into the perfect home.
Slideshow
PhotoSara Maria Salamone
The Glass Condo
The newest addition to the Brooklyn landscape—the towering glass condominiums that loom on the skyline—can seem icy and impenetrable from the sidewalk. If you looked up and craned your neck, you might catch a glimpse into the apartment of John Barone on the edge of McCarren Park but, most likely, you wouldn’t see anything at all but the reflection of the sky. Once inside, the New York skyline beckons you back out, to stand on the terrace, the city before you, experiencing the ultimate blend of exterior and interior Brooklyn living.
Slideshow
Photo Jessica Nash
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About The Author
Kristin Iversen
Bio:
Kristin Iversen is the Managing Editor at Brooklyn Magazine and the L Magazine. She has been described as "a hipster buzzword made flesh." This seems pretty accurate.
Kristin Iversen is the Managing Editor at Brooklyn Magazine and the L Magazine. She has been described as "a hipster buzzword made flesh." This seems pretty accurate.
