The Insider: Architect's Own South Slope Row House Grows Up and Out, Prioritizes Energy Saving
Architect Michelle Krochmal and her husband spent months scouring Brooklyn neighborhoods from Greenpoint to Ditmas Park before finding a home a block from where they were already living in the South Slope.
Photo by ©Ines Leong / L-INES Photo
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It sounds a bit like something out of an old folk tale, but architect Michelle Krochmal of Brooklyn-based Filament Architecture Studio and her husband spent months scouring Brooklyn neighborhoods from Greenpoint to Ditmas Park before finding a home a block from where they were already living in the South Slope. They’d bought a small house there in 2009, but as their two children became teens, they felt increasingly cramped.
The three-story wood-frame house they lit upon as a suitable fixer-upper had been abandoned since the previous homeowner died a few years before. “There had been no maintenance, and there was water damage,” recalled Krochmal, a Cooper Union-trained, LEED-certified architect who practiced in California and Boston before returning to New York and setting up her own full-service architecture and design firm. “It was also very small, probably built as housing for dockyard workers in the 1870s, and it hadn’t been updated since 1950.”
They embarked on a gut renovation that expanded the house considerably and prioritized energy efficiency. “I’ve done my share of restoration and like a mix of old and new,” Krochmal said. “We essentially started fresh, but did our best to keep what we could,” which included a marble mantel and one flight of the original wood staircase.
They got the space they needed for their family by extending 20 feet out on all three levels and going up a story in the back, putting a brand new penthouse with a generously sized roof deck atop the new extension. The ground floor is now a rental unit; the architect’s family occupies the two floors above, plus the penthouse, totaling about 2,100 square feet.
Krochmal calls the style that emerged from the renovation “Vernacular Brooklyn.” Design features include salvaged floor tile, pocket doors, exposed steel beams, and vintage fixtures and furnishings gathered from estate sales and auctions.
With an electric mini split cooling and heat pump system, solar panels on the roof and other elements to boost energy efficiency, including extra insulation and triple-paned windows, “we’re almost net zero in terms of cost,” Krochmal said.
Beyond the plum-colored entry doors are floor tiles from the Pennsylvania warehouse of Olde Good Things and built-in shoe storage.
A structural steel beam was inserted when Krochmal removed the wall between the hallway and living room. “Because it’s a wooden house, we’re allowed to keep the beam exposed,” she said. There is a discreet new sprinkler system.
A modernist chaise and vintage mid-century wood pieces furnish the front room. Krochmal used pocket doors to separate it from the kitchen and dining area beyond. “With everyone home during Covid, we realized it would nice to have a separate space that wasn’t loud.”
A small family dining area suffices for now. “We tend to entertain on the roof deck in the summer,” Krochmal said.
The pendant fixture is a vintage auction find.
A cool 1970s sofa and armchair by designer Milo Baughman, sourced on 1stDibs, furnishes the living space at the rear of the parlor floor.
The back wall was blown out in favor of a sliding glass door and window system from Zola. Krochmal described it as “European Passive House style,” with wood inside and an aluminum-clad exterior.
The kitchen’s extensive custom cabinetry is painted wood, with backsplash tiles from Heath and a floor of Popham tiles made in Morocco.
“We went with a gas range, which is a bit of a no-no for energy efficiency, but my husband cooks and likes the fire,” Krochmal said. “Sometimes you have to make compromises.”
The whimsical sculptures lining the counter are by local artist Elodie Blanchard.
The primary bedroom on the second floor runs the full 18 foot 9 inch width of the house; the antique pendant light was found at auction.
The ensuite bath is one of 3.5 new baths in the homeowners’ triplex.
Also on the second floor: bedrooms for each of the couple’s high school-age children.
The green mosaic floor tile in the kids’ bath is in keeping with Krochmal’s scheme to “limit the palette of colors to create a serene home, but not literally use the same thing everywhere.”
The bathroom vanities were made by Draftwood Design, a Phoenix-based company Krochmal discovered on Etsy.
A new stair runs from the second floor to the new penthouse on the third. There’s a glimpse of the architect’s home office at the top.
The new half-floor penthouse contains a multipurpose room with a sleeping loft reached by rope ladder and a door to a new roof deck. “Sometimes it’s used for guests, sometimes it’s a hangout space, sometimes I work there,” Krochmal said.
Brooklyn-based artist Hank Blaustein created the Disney-themed framed work on the wall.
The bath on the penthouse level has Heath wall tiles and floor tiles from Complete Tile Collection.
The custom wood counter holding the vessel sink, along with the raw-edge dining table downstairs, were crafted by Brooklyn-based Sawkill Lumber, which also supplied all the home’s new flooring.
A steep metal ladder provides access to the roof’s solar panel system (the high platform is also used once a year for watching fireworks).
Navy blue HardiePlank siding clads the entire exterior of the vintage wood frame structure.
[Photos ©Ines Leong / L-INES Photo]
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The Insider is Brownstoner’s weekly in-depth look at a notable renovation and/or interior design project by design journalist Cara Greenberg. Find it here every Thursday morning.
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