Gut Reno Transforms Bed Stuy Brownstone Wreck Into Charming Condos
Photo by Steve Chan It’s the thing in Brooklyn these days to convert chopped-up brownstones back into single-family homes. Rarer is the instance when a homeowner beautifully transforms a single-family brownstone into condos. But that is exactly what Amy Werba, a French-Italian former actress, did with the Halsey Street brownstone she purchased in 2012. When Werba acquired the 19th-century Italianate home, it was not aging gracefully….
Photo by Steve Chan
It’s the thing in Brooklyn these days to convert chopped-up brownstones back into single-family homes. Rarer is the instance when a homeowner beautifully transforms a single-family brownstone into condos.
But that is exactly what Amy Werba, a French-Italian former actress, did with the Halsey Street brownstone she purchased in 2012. When Werba acquired the 19th-century Italianate home, it was not aging gracefully.
“The brownstone property was in terrible shape,” Werba told Brownstoner. “The home was squatted in with everything becoming rotten. Not a single original detail could be saved.”
Neglect wasn’t her only problem: The first two construction workers Werba hired “took the money and ran.” But once she found contractor Frank Medina and his assistant Cabeza, Werba’s renovation really took off.
Photos via Amy Werba
Photo of upstairs duplex by Yasha Gruben
Werba connected with a skilled Venetian woodworker who’d cut his teeth doing Sicilian church restorations. The pair restored a set of antique doors found at Eddie’s in Clinton Hill, and salvaged the home’s original wooden beams and floors. All the locks, handles and knobs were bought at at Rogerson’s Hardware in Hudson, N.Y.
Photo by Steve Chan
For the brownstone’s entrance floor, Werba chose eclectic Moroccan tiles.
Photo by Yasha Gruben
Werba worked with architect Lara Eldin of Lara Eldin Design to create a layered space that felt open and airy. The brief, Eldin explained to Brownstoner, was to “squeeze in the desired multiple uses, spaces and rooms and still bring in light and openness.”
Photo by Steve Chan
Werba found a Fuller and Warren heating stove from the 1800s, restored it, and installed it in the new parlor-floor kitchen.
Photo by Steve Chan
Photo by Steve Chan
When the condo conversion goes through, Werba plans to put this upstairs duplex on the market. She’s keeping the downstairs triplex. Photos below by Yasha Gruben
The building is landmarked, and it took two and a half years to get the required permits and complete the bulk of construction. Just this week, Werba is finishing the railings on the roof.
[Photos: Steve Chan | Yasha Gruben | Amy Werba]
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This house is for sale! 588 Halsey. I have to remember to post my reno on brownstoner, create a buzz from people who think I’m actually going to live in it and then fool them all by putting it on the market 30 seconds later.
i love the collapsible staircase for the roof hatch as well. could you send the product details? it looks like it might be a bilco hatch with collapsible staircase? i like that the footprint on the roof is so much smaller than a proper bulkhead
this is a very pretty renovation and gorgeous staging! but i am pretty sick of the “partial exposed brick walls” trend. that design trope should stay in industrial spaces where it belongs! also–i’m super impressed by what looks like a collapsible staircase in that roof hatch!
This is beautiful. Some of the pictures aren’t loading, brownstoner.
I love the salvaged door and the paint color. Not original, not modern, but something in between the two. Great use of the tiles, too!
Love everything about this! Great work.
Excatly!!!! i love this house it is an amazing reno… I am pinning it on my inspiration board!!
i agree. usually, unless the house was literally looted for stuff, it’s not the case. the fireplaces that come in these houses are practically bullet-proof. but i agree about contractors. my boyfriend insisted to his contractor that he wanted to keep all the original doors in the house–even the ones that were, in the contractor’s opinion, warped beyond repair, and too crusted over with paint to be “worth” salvaging. he totally didn’t get it, and he didn’t want to “look” bad or incompetent because he put some slightly warped doors in a brand new renovation. but in the end, after a lot of stripping and restaining, when you look at one of the original doors and the new doors side by side it’s like night and day. the wood in the original doors are so beautiful and full of character with a really rich grain.