PARK SLOPE TUDOR

This Park Slope Tudor boasted three exposures and a garage, but its layout was a mess. The parlor floor had no storage. The cellar flooded. And worst of all, the basement stair cut off the tiny kitchen from the rest of the house.

By reorienting the stair, the Brooklyn architects gave the kitchen enough room for multiple cooks and an eat-in island. Moreover, shifting the entry and fireplace cleared space for three closets for coats, bikes, and storage. As a result, the living room got a huge new soapstone fireplace set in a mod wall of walnut planks.

In the kids’ bedrooms, ripping out dropped ceilings exposed the soaring cathedral ceilings of the steep slate roof. Here, built-ins create cozy window seats and clever storage. The new master suite got large steel windows and a private roof deck. Using traditional materials, the architects seamlessly wove these modern insertions throughout the house.