The J + K Residence combines two New York types:  a townhouse and historic loft—set on the Manhattan skyline.  Above Gilsey House, a former hotel and Civil War-era landmark, the residence integrates contemporary and historic architectural designs. 

The original one-story loft has been expanded to three levels.  The residence features a two-story living room and twenty-four-foot-tall library overlooking outdoor gardens.   The architecture blurs the lines between Old + New, Inside + Outside, and Revealing + Hiding. 

Old + New
The design combines historic 19th and 20th century layers with a new overlay of contemporary architecture.  Wooden beams and angled columns from 1869 are exposed with steel columns and tangles of infrastructure from the building’s Great Depression conversion to a factory.  Contemporary and historic materials contrast additions of zinc, glass, and stone with historic cast-iron façades and slate roofs.

Inside + Out
Spatial transparency transforms the loft while extended vertical spaces that connect terraces and gardens on three levels.  A frameless glass volume draws views of the Empire State Building into the two-story living room.  Twenty-four-foot-long sliding glass walls disappear into zinc façades and open the interior to an outdoor multilevel garden terrace.  The rooftop outdoor living room features perennial gardens and an outdoor kitchen overlooking the Manhattan skyline.

Hiding + Revealing
Sliding walls reveal spatial connections and surprising views.  A children’s bedroom transforms into the living area with a sliding 15-foot corian wall when they attend university.  A kitchen and powder room disappear within freestanding corian millwork.  A wall of glass disappears to open the master bedroom to a garden terrace.  Vertical doors and glass panels reveal a dressing area and wet room with showers and freestanding tub connected to a garden with outdoor shower.