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Livingetc has published a feature on eight New York brownstones, highlighting how designers and residents combine historic architectural details with contemporary interiors. The homes span Brooklyn neighborhoods and include renovations that preserve original features as well as a Fort Greene property extensively reworked after few historic details remained.
Livingetc has profiled eight New York brownstones, showing how designers and homeowners are adapting the city’s historic sandstone houses for contemporary life. The feature focuses on projects in Brooklyn neighborhoods including Cobble Hill, Park Slope and Fort Greene, and describes a range of approaches—from highlighting original moldings and fireplaces to substantially reworking a house with few surviving historic details.
The homes in the feature vary in age, condition and design. A 1901 South Slope brownstone by Crystal Sinclair was planned as a family-friendly home, pairing a bold color palette and mid-century modern influences with references to the building’s history. In Park Slope, Studio Nato kept existing crown molding white, with founder Nathan Cuttle saying the choice helped keep the rooms bright while drawing attention to the detailing.
Other projects take a more extensive approach. Home Studios reworked the floor plan of a Fort Greene family home built in the 1900s; Livingetc reports that few original features remained after previous renovations. In Cobble Hill, designer Athena Calderone opened up the upper ground floor with Elizabeth Roberts Architects and used black paint to define features including the staircase, fireplaces and window frames.
The feature also includes a Bedford-Stuyvesant family home renovated by Jordan Slocum and Barry Bordelon, known as The Brownstone Boys, and a 3,500-square-foot brownstone in the Fort Greene Historic District designed by BarlisWedlick. The supplied source material begins describing that project but does not include the full list of all eight homes or complete details on the remaining properties.
Historic Details Meet Family Living
The feature illustrates the practical and design choices involved in adapting older townhouses: how to retain or emphasize original details while making rooms work for modern households. Several projects are explicitly described as family homes, and designers adjusted layouts, finishes and furnishings to balance historic character with everyday function.
The homes also show that preservation can take different forms. Some designers kept existing molding or highlighted fireplaces and staircases; in the Fort Greene home by Home Studios, the reported lack of surviving original features gave the designers room to rebuild the interior more extensively. These are examples from a design feature, not evidence of a citywide renovation trend or a property-market ranking.
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How Brownstones Became City Icons
Livingetc describes brownstone as brown sandstone, a material that became popular with builders in the late 18th and early 19th centuries as a less costly alternative to marble and limestone. The source says the material’s use helped make the style accessible to middle-class buyers. Brownstones later fell out of favor during the 20th century as architectural tastes changed, before becoming highly sought-after homes.
The article presents its eight examples as contemporary interiors shaped around that architectural legacy. The featured properties include houses built in the 19th century and early 20th century, as well as homes whose histories and surviving features differ. The source identifies a Brooklyn Heights house as an 1845 Greek Revival home in its introduction, but the supplied excerpt does not provide its full project description.
““We let the architecture and original features of this house speak for themselves with a nice, clean white paint on the walls and ceilings. It emphasizes the richness of the original details.””
— Jordan Slocum and Barry Bordelon, known as The Brownstone Boys, as quoted by Livingetc
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The Full Eight-Home List
The supplied source excerpt does not contain the complete descriptions of all eight properties. It cuts off during the account of BarlisWedlick’s Fort Greene project and does not identify the remaining homes in detail. The source material also provides no publication date, addresses, renovation budgets or project timelines, so those details cannot be confirmed here.
Livingetc’s judgments about beauty, style and design success are editorial assessments. The excerpt does not provide an independent architectural evaluation, a selection methodology, or evidence that the featured properties represent all New York brownstones.
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Further Project Details Needed
The source material available for this report does not identify a forthcoming event or follow-up announcement. Readers seeking the complete roster and additional photographs or project details can consult Livingetc’s original feature. Any further account of the eight homes would require the full article, particularly its sections omitted from the supplied excerpt.
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Key Questions
What is the news?
Livingetc published a feature on eight New York brownstones and how their interiors combine historic architecture with contemporary design.
Which neighborhoods are included in the excerpt?
The supplied material describes projects in South Slope, Park Slope, Fort Greene, Cobble Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant. It also mentions an 1845 Greek Revival home in Brooklyn Heights, without giving its full project description.
Do the renovations preserve original features?
Some projects retain or emphasize details such as crown molding, fireplaces, staircases and window frames. The Home Studios Fort Greene project was different: Livingetc says few original features remained after earlier renovations, allowing a more extensive redesign.
Are all eight homes described in the available source?
No. The supplied excerpt includes details on several projects but cuts off partway through the description of the BarlisWedlick home. It does not provide complete information on all eight properties.
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