Built in 1853, this rare wood-framed townhouse in the Fort Greene historic district was purchased by repeat clients as a new home for their young family. Elena Frampton design strategy focused on preserving its good bones and accepting its quirky elements, complementing them with select modern interventions.

The clients’ personalities are expressed through custom millwork and metalwork, an array of color and contrast studies, menswear- inspired textiles and bird and floral prints that blur masculine and feminine notions and provide the ideal context for the vintage furnishings purchased over time.

Architectural additions consist of a new kitchen, new bathrooms, central air conditioning and a skylight that floods the stairwell with natural light. Tying everything together is the artwork, which includes a Robert Youngerman diptych, a large-scale Andrew Moore photograph, and a Robert Moreland graphic shaped canvas, juxtaposed with re-framed flea market finds.