The boys sleep on the second floor, encompassing two rooms and a bath on either side of the former party wall.
#DOUBLETAKE DESIGN WINDOWS#
The upper floors are enlivened by floor-to-ceiling windows across the backs of both houses, where there are no preservation requirements. “The kitchen is open to the entrance so it becomes a very important part of the two houses,” she remarks. “As it is a narrow space with a lot of circulation, we needed to find the right balance in furniture proportions and materials to achieve a clean design that is comfortable and livable.”ĭeborah Kalkstein of Contemporaria designed the sparkling kitchen, where Italian Cesar cabinetry hides every possible appliance. “Our goal was to bring a contemporary but warm feeling to the home,” says Despres Stevens, now CEO of the New York office of Jean-Philippe Nuel, a Paris designer of hospitality and residential interiors. Levinas found room for a nifty “wine wall” beneath the stairs.įor furnishings, Russ turned to Sandy Despres Stevens, a New York-based French designer then working under the name Decopostale. The architect calls this his “statement” staircase its counterpart in the acquired home was demolished in favor of a straight flight with open risers, separated from the adjacent dining area by a suspended partition. Levinas gave each its own strong sense of individuality one, newly fashioned in the owners’ original row house, winds up from the kitchen in a coil of steel.
It took even more finesse to accommodate two complete staircases. The doubled living room now boasts two handcrafted steel fireplaces-one for each downsized unit. The floor plan and architectural features subtly respect the former division between spaces. Behind those walls, double the wiring and plumbing was installed, in case the units need to be walled off again and another kitchen is required. Calibrated shafts of daylight from repositioned skylights and existing clerestory windows bounce off polished European white oak flooring. By taking down party walls and moving one staircase, he created wide open spaces defined by off-white gallery walls. On the main floor, Levinas established an expanded envelope for entertaining. Two lower-level rental units were also renovated.
#DOUBLETAKE DESIGN FULL#
Inside, the architect envisioned a modernized, four-level home encompassing 4,200 square feet and including five bedrooms, four full baths, a study and a family room. Preservation requirements dictated that the historic façades remain unchanged, including the two front doors the owners use the door to their original end unit.
“The challenge was to create one large unit that you could close tomorrow and have separate units that would work perfectly well.” “The houses were joined, but with the possibility of separating them,” explains Levinas, principal of Shinberg.Levinas, a multi-disciplinary Washington practice. The task they presented to architect Salo Levinas: Join the two dwellings for now, but preserve future resale value. When the opportunity arose to purchase the property next door, the couple jumped on it.īut as Russ points out, they knew they might move out one day.
#DOUBLETAKE DESIGN PROFESSIONAL#
With an active family and professional responsibilities-she is a consultant, he is a managing director at Deloitte-they had longed for more space. Russ and David Rubin, had just expanded their domestic real estate holdings by one adjoining historic row house. The complexity of a whole-house renovation was increased exponentially in a townhouse reinvention near Washington’s Logan Circle.
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