friday's site visit

Last Friday's site visit was amazing. Not only did we finalize a design for the rear garden with our client but we also got our first peak at the townhouse with it's rear wall demolished. Next the contractor and his subs will be removing the existing roof to place the steel for the new fifth floor. The whole house will be open to the elements- let's hope there are no downpours in the near future...

standing at the garden floor looking out to the existing garden. look, no rear wall!

a view of the garden as is and some of the existing bricks from the demolished rear wall that we are salvaging for the new rear wall.

the backless townhouse!

looking up at the few remaining floor joists soon to be removed. you can also see where the back wall use to be.

looking towards the front of the house on the new master bedroom floor.

I'm not sure which floor I took this photo from but it illustrates the difference of height from the new joists (on the right) to the old (on the left). That's one of the two existing chimneys in the house. We're abandoning this one, re-using the other one, and also building a new one.

welcome!

We couldn't be more excited about sharing one of our current projects with you: the complete gut renovation of an existing townhouse in Manhattan. This blog will attempt to cover all aspects of renovation from demolition to furniture selection and everything else in between.

The scope of work includes making the house suitable for a single family, the addition of a penthouse floor, the expansion of the rear of the house, as well as a sizable amount of excavation of the existing garden level floor to achieve a greater head height. We will also be adding a new rear wall, a new staircase and elevator, and a new garden level entry way.

All that will remain of the existing townhouse is the street facade. All interior finishes, walls, and floors will be removed along with the existing rear garden wall to make room for new structure and a better, more functional design.

the existing street facade to remain (although all doors and windows will be replaced)

the existing garden facade (which will be completely removed in order to build the house out to where the existing "tale" is).