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Rehabbing, Plus Some

A creative duo restored a practically uninhabitable Brooklyn townhouse as if they were doing it for their own family.

Photo: Matthew Williams
Photo: Matthew Williams

The first time I met Lyndsay Caleo and Fitzhugh Karol, who in 2007 launched their Gowanus-based real-estate firm the Brooklyn Home Company (which builds out spaces from the walls all the way to the art that hangs on them), was back in 2010, when New York Magazine featured the couple’s own renovated duplex in Park Slope. Now, nearly a decade (and two children) later, they recently finished renovating the largest townhouse they’ve worked on to date: an 8,250-square-foot, five-story, six-bedroom 1854 Greek Revival. “I daydreamed about how I’d make it look if my own family could live in it,” says Caleo of her first time seeing the space, which she quickly realized needed to be completely gutted. The building’s interior was daunting, to say the least: It had been divided into ten condo units, there was very little light on the parlor floor, and matted maroon carpeting was everywhere. After two years of work, the transformation is dramatic — and features Caleo and Karol’s artistic flourishes. The dining area, seen above, had been added as an extension in a previous renovation, but the Brooklyn Home team opened up the wall with custom steel-framed windows that evoke the architecture of the carriage house across the mews. The hanging pendant lights are by Natalie Page, the dining table is by the Brooklyn Home Company, the dining chairs are from BDDW, the vintage Moroccan rug is from ABC Carpet & Home, the console is by the Brooklyn Home Company, and the mirror is from BDDW.

The new kitchen has elegant brass shelving on either side of the stove, handmade by ESP Metal Crafts. The timber-chunk console is part of Karol’s first furniture collection for the Brooklyn Home Company. The painting above it is by Tyler Hays. Photo: Matthew Williams
Pre-renovation: The kitchen (left) was dark, dated, and forlorn. The wood fireplace was from a past renovation. Photo: Courtesy of the Brooklyn Home Company.
Pre-renovation: The kitchen (left) was dark, dated, and forlorn. The wood fireplace was from a past renovation. Photo: Courtesy of the Brooklyn Home C... Pre-renovation: The kitchen (left) was dark, dated, and forlorn. The wood fireplace was from a past renovation. Photo: Courtesy of the Brooklyn Home Company.
The updated living room features a carved marble fireplace, handmade by the Brooklyn Home team, and a light fixture by Lindsey Adelman. The sofas are by Cisco Brothers, and the armchairs are by BDDW. The paintings are by Tyler Hays. “Fitzhugh and I felt a duty to treat the property with as much integrity as the original builders did when they created this place over 150 years ago,” says Caleo. Photo: Matthew Williams
Today, an arched opening separates the living room and kitchen, which features counter stools by BDDW and a library ladder, a personal favorite touch of Caleo’s. “The home is much wider than a typical brownstone, at 25 feet in width,” Caleo says. “And once we opened up the back of the house, the view was like something from a storybook: It overlooks a two-story, beautifully detailed carriage house.” Photo: Matthew Williams
Pre-renovation: The view into the kitchen from the living room (left) before work began. The small windows allowed for very little natural light. The original stairs were extremely rickety and couldn’t withstand the renovation. Photo: Courtesy of the Brooklyn Home Company.
Pre-renovation: The view into the kitchen from the living room (left) before work began. The small windows allowed for very little natural light. The ... Pre-renovation: The view into the kitchen from the living room (left) before work began. The small windows allowed for very little natural light. The original stairs were extremely rickety and couldn’t withstand the renovation. Photo: Courtesy of the Brooklyn Home Company.
“Since the original staircase was unsalvageable,” Caleo says, “we set out to make our own version of a classical staircase, which ultimately included a carved handrail with detailed knuckles, slender balusters, plaster details, and gracious switchbacks.” Photo: Matthew Williams
One of the six bedrooms; this one has a pair of single beds. “We didn’t only imagine this space architecturally,” says Karol. “We also imagined the exact furniture we’d put in in our ideal, ideal world — it really was as if we were designing it for ourselves.” Photo: Matthew Williams

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