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Brooklyn-based Barker Associates Architecture Office renovated a landmarked 19th-century brownstone in Clinton Hill for an empty-nester couple moving from Tribeca. The four-story home combines surviving historic features with a colorful, contemporary interior designed around the couple’s art and furniture collections.
Brooklyn-based Barker Associates Architecture Office (BAAO) has renovated a landmarked 19th-century brownstone in Clinton Hill for an empty-nester couple who moved from a Tribeca townhouse. The four-story project preserves a small number of surviving architectural details while adding vivid colors, contemporary finishes and spaces arranged around the homeowners’ art and furniture collections.
According to Design Milk’s report, the brownstone had previously been divided into short-term rentals, and much of its original ornamentation had been removed. BAAO took a selective approach: retaining the historic elements that remained and setting them against clean-lined additions. The result is not a full reconstruction of the building’s original interior, but a blend of period references and modern work.
Color establishes the sequence through the house. Deep olive front doors open to a terracotta vestibule, with a central staircase painted sunny yellow and finished with a red runner. On the parlor floor, diagonally laid white oak boards reference Victorian parquet patterns. In the living room, original plaster crown moldings frame a fireplace covered in textured porcelain tile; a Richard Tuttle chandelier hangs from a restored plaster rosette.
The kitchen wraps around the room’s perimeter, with custom white oak cabinets, honed soapstone counters and a veined lilac marble backsplash. Rather than installing a conventional island, the architects placed a dining table beneath vintage aluminum pendants sourced in France. The lower level contains both a bright family room opening onto the garden and a dark-paneled library. Above, the primary suite uses russet, ochre and moss-green tones, while the top floor has three bedrooms arranged around a skylit lounge for the couple’s adult children.
Color Reframes a Historic Brooklyn Home
The renovation offers a specific example of how a historic house can be adapted for contemporary life without trying to restore every lost detail. The building’s previous use as short-term rentals had left limited original ornamentation to work with, so the design emphasizes the surviving plasterwork and other period cues while making new materials and color part of the home’s identity.
That balance also responds to the clients’ particular needs: a couple leaving a Manhattan townhouse, a collection of midcentury furniture and contemporary art, and a household that includes visiting adult children. The arrangement supports different kinds of use, from shared meals and time in the garden to reading in the library and private space on the upper floors. The project is therefore as much about organizing a four-story home around its residents as it is about its visual palette.
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From Short-Term Rentals to Family Home
The source report describes the property as a landmarked brownstone in Clinton Hill, a Brooklyn neighborhood, and identifies the clients as empty nesters relocating from Tribeca. It does not give the address or say when the renovation took place. The owners hired BAAO, a Brooklyn-based architecture practice, to update the four-story building and worked with the firm on furniture choices and art placement throughout the home.
The design draws on historical references without presenting the house as a period-perfect restoration. Diagonal oak flooring recalls Victorian parquet, and preserved plaster features remain visible, but the kitchen, bathrooms and other custom elements use contemporary materials. The source identifies works by artists including Alfred Stieglitz, Inez Nathaniel Walker and Amy Sillman, alongside tattoo artist Stoney St. Clair, as part of the collection displayed in the residence.
“BAAO approached the renovation with subtle, surgical precision.”
— Design Milk, reporting on the project
Project Details Not Reported
Design Milk’s account does not provide the project’s completion date, construction budget, address or a detailed account of the work required to meet landmark-preservation rules. It also does not identify which surviving architectural elements were retained beyond the plaster details described in the living room. The report gives no direct interview quotations from the homeowners or BAAO, so their views and the firm’s detailed explanations are not independently represented here.
The article describes the design and its intended atmosphere, but does not report on the renovation’s energy performance, accessibility, construction timeline or measured effect on property value. Those points should not be inferred from the finished interior.
No Further Milestone Specified
The source presents the renovation as a completed residential project and does not announce a future construction phase, public event or follow-up release. The next available details would depend on further information from the homeowners or BAAO, including the project timeline, preservation process and decisions behind specific design choices.
For now, the reported project can be understood through its documented features: a four-story Clinton Hill home, a selective approach to the remaining historic fabric, and rooms planned around the couple’s art, furnishings and family life.
Key Questions
Who designed the Clinton Hill brownstone renovation?
Barker Associates Architecture Office (BAAO), a Brooklyn-based practice, designed the renovation, according to Design Milk.
What is notable about the home’s design?
The four-story interior combines surviving historic features, including original plaster crown moldings, with bold colors, contemporary finishes and custom furnishings. The design also makes room for the owners’ art collection.
What was the brownstone used for before the renovation?
Design Milk reports that the building had been divided into short-term rentals, a change that had removed much of its original ornamentation.
Does the report give the renovation cost or completion date?
No. The source does not state the budget or completion date, and it does not provide the property’s address.
How does the home accommodate the couple’s family?
The top floor contains three bedrooms around a skylit central lounge for the couple’s three adult children. The garden level also includes a family room that opens onto the landscaped garden.
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