The Insider: Park Slope Prewar Gets All-Encompassing Update for Modern Family

At one point in the renovation of a prewar apartment purchased in estate condition by a couple with two young daughters, the new homeowners and their architect, Frederick Tang, considered retaining some Art Deco bathroom fixtures and pastel tiles. “There was a moment when we thought about keeping the peach pedestal sink and sage green tub in the kids’ bath,” Tang recalled. “We didn’t end up going that way, but we tried to allude to the original palette with teal, aubergine, and hits of purple.”

The 1,500-square-foot apartment, in a 1929 building by renowned architect Emery Roth, had many pluses, including expansive rooms, three exposures with city and Prospect Park views, and salvageable white oak flooring. It also had those original bathrooms, an awkward maid’s room behind a cramped, enclosed kitchen, and closets in all the wrong places.

Gowanus-based Frederick Tang Architecture, which has a decade’s worth of residential and commercial projects in its portfolio, gave the two-bedroom, 2.5-bath unit a comprehensive update and a fresh design language. “We kept existing baseboards, crown moldings, and picture rail in some places, and added curved openings trimmed with white oak between some of the rooms,” said Tang. “These prewar layouts are great for growing families. The proportions of spaces are generous, and we carved out spaces within them for specific uses. We focused on how they actually use the space: How they eat meals, whether they needed a formal dining table, how the kids like to play.”

Most of the furnishings were procured new by Frederick Tang Architecture, with a few cherished vintage pieces coming along from the clients’ previous residence.

Tang reorganized storage throughout, beginning with the entryway. There’s a giant new closet for strollers, bikes, and the like, and an alcove bench of white oak with drawers for each child’s belongings. Wallcovering and upholstery by Maharam establishes the apartment’s color story.

The living room is anchored by an L-shaped sectional from Design Within Reach and a graphic rug in black and cream from Nordic Knots. A new marble surround for an existing wood-burning fireplace harks back to the Deco era.

The kitchen layout changed dramatically after Tang incorporated the former maid’s room and bath into the space. Rich teal cabinetry and marble countertops and backsplash with striking purple veining recall the assertive color in the original space.

A custom banquette in the adjacent breakfast area runs the entire width of the kitchen. A kitchen island was important, as was a built-in banquette for family meals.

A black ash dining table from Forom in Greenpoint and Plan chairs from Fredericia, a Scandinavian brand, are accompanied by a vintage ’70s console and pastel painting from the homeowners’ collection.

Elegant as it looks, “the dining table is a de facto kids’ zone,” Tang said, for Lego, coloring, and homework.

The cone-shaped Cherry pendant was sourced from Lightology.

Bold-scale graphic wallpaper from Porter Teleo enlivens the primary bedroom. “It was a huge wall, and we thought the room needed a bit of drama,” Tang said.

Each member of the couple has their own space, the husband’s with a record player, the wife’s with a well-lit love seat for reading.

The homeowners’ two girls share a bedroom, which Tang’s clients agreed was preferable to dividing the large existing bedroom in half.

A custom oak vanity and dramatic marble wall distinguish the primary bath.

A marble tub and sink and playful inlaid polka dots in the floor bring in the blue to the secondary bath.

[Photos by Anastazia Swerer-McNutt]

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The Insider is Brownstoner’s weekly in-depth look at a notable interior design/renovation project, by design journalist Cara Greenberg. Find it here every Thursday morning.

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