During demolition of Mercer Street Residence, an apartment renovation project in a former textile showroom in New York, architect firm Marsollier Villacorta came across a few surprises. Terra-cotta with an empty-brick pattern, curved emergency egress staircase walls, and other quirks were treasure pieces to the designers. The renovation became a partial restoration. The task was to reinstate some of the charm of the circa-1894 Hohner Building while adding warm, modern touches for the client. The result has all the trappings of the idealized New York apartment: distinctly of the city, sweeping views, lots of space, and a soft-meets-industrial style.
Part of the 2,200-square-foot apartment’s charm is its generous volume and views. To celebrate this quality of the space, the layout was guided by sunlight, directing social and open areas near the west-facing windows while private areas unfold into the darker areas within the narrow floorplan. Featuring two bedrooms and a study, the layout orients the bedrooms on eastern side where some daylighting still permeates. Bathrooms take up the darker areas.
In the social areas, where living, dining, and cooking take place, the newly discovered exposed brick wash the walls. Inspired by the original detailing of the space, the architects integrated more moments to coincide. The color of the window casing that runs along the brick wall was matched to fit within the terra-cotta palette. “The window casing is also playing with the face of the brick, and there’s the tiniest shadow gap that runs around the casing, which makes it look perfectly integrated,” said cofounder Cyril Marsollier.
The architects also preserved the original plaster ceiling, ceiling rosettes, and even iron columns. Exposed electrical wiring further highlights the industrial nature of the building’s interiors. “Also, in the living room, there’s a shaft that actually houses a lot of the building’s conduits that go all the way up and down the building,” added Wallo Villacorta, cofounder of the firm. Clad in soft beige casing, it’s now, as Villacorta described, “a moment to celebrate, a totem in the space.”
New materials lean raw. In the bedrooms, lacquered panels for the millwork, created by Acid and coordinated by Gemayel Group, creates storage and division without intruding into the design too much. In one instance, millwork is used to blend into the curvature and decorative mouldings of the original emergency stairwell. “There’s an intentional anomaly in the layout of the plans,” explained Marsollier. “The staircase shaft that goes through the building. But the original architect had completely covered that up. Our intention was really to actually celebrate it and install custom millwork right up against it.”
While a quiet naturalness suffuses the open and sleeping spaces, the bathrooms act as their own universes. Here limestone completely clads the spaces, creating a serene retreat. From the ribbed bronze glass to the shower cove, the bathroom and powder room details help scatter and sculpt light, bring intentional spaces within a residence respectfully considerate of its past.