Designing an apartment for a young client embarking on her first custom residence is a unique opportunity. Acting as both guide and interpreter, we helped her articulate and refine a design direction that felt true to her voice—one that balanced her ambitions as a young professional with the gravitas of the historic building she would call home.

The apartment is located in the iconic Police Building on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, a landmark structure at 240 Centre Street that served as the New York City Police Headquarters from 1909 to 1973, when it was converted to residential use. Designed by Hoppin & Koen and completed in 1909, the limestone and granite building occupies an entire city block and is a muscular blend of Baroque and Renaissance Revival architecture. It is now listed both as a New York City Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.
Within this extraordinary architectural context, our aim was to bring the scale and spirit of the original structure into the apartment. The main living space—a loft-like room that spans the full width of the building from east to west—provided a natural starting point. Anchoring two seating groups in that space are a pair of structural columns that we wrapped with straight, fluted column shafts that give the illusion of monumental columns that pierce the floor and ceiling of the apartment.

Off the corners of the main room, a kitchen and a guest bedroom frame an apse-like dining space, creating a gentle sequence of interconnected rooms that reference the axial clarity of the Police Building’s grand civic interiors. On the opposite side of the plan, the primary bedroom suite opens onto a private terrace tucked behind the massive balustrade and decorative urns that crown the building’s eave—a unique moment where the client can step directly into the sculptural language of the landmark façade.

Throughout, the design balances historic resonance with a contemporary sensibility, creating a home that engages the monumentality of its setting while remaining intimately aligned with the life of its young owner.

Interiors: Kevin Isbell
Builder: John Hummel and Associates
Photographer: Adam Macchia
Stylist: Benjamin Reynaert