ArchDaily: Prospect Lefferts Gardens Townhouse

Our renovation of Lefferts Manor House, a historic Brooklyn townhouse in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, was recently featured on ArchDaily. Designed by Abruzzo Bodziak Architects, the project reconsiders a landmarked corner townhouse through daylighting strategies, unified materials, and a transition to fully electric systems. The work demonstrates our approach to Brooklyn townhouse renovation, where spatial clarity, light, and performance upgrades are developed within the constraints of historic structures.

Lefferts Manor House is located in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens Historic District in Brooklyn, a neighborhood of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century houses whose generous scale often conceals interiors that are dark, divided, and difficult to adapt to contemporary life. The approximately 3,300-square-foot townhouse came to us with compartmentalized rooms, limited storage, awkward circulation, and aging building systems. Rather than erase the historic condition, the Brooklyn townhouse renovation by Abruzzo Bodziak Architects works within the fixed envelope of the landmarked exterior while reorganizing the interior to clarify movement, increase daylight, and support contemporary family life.

At the center of the intervention is light. The roof above the stair hall was opened to introduce a large skylight that draws daylight deep into the plan, carrying it down the stair and into the lower levels of the townhouse. This vertical shaft of light reshapes how the interior is experienced, turning circulation into a spatial focus and reducing reliance on artificial lighting. The stair itself was recalibrated so that movement between floors feels continuous rather than compressed.

Throughout the house, a continuous system of white oak millwork consolidates storage and establishes a consistent architectural language across the renovation. Cabinetry, wainscoting, and built-ins extend from room to room, organizing spaces that were once visually fragmented. The material palette is intentionally limited: white oak paneling, terrazzo flooring in high-traffic areas, plaster surfaces, and refinished parquet floors quiet visual noise and foreground proportion, light, and use. In the kitchen and dining spaces, veined quartzite counters and handmade tile introduce texture while remaining within this restrained framework.

Upper floors continue the same approach in pared-back bedrooms and bathrooms, including a primary bath shaped in part by Japanese bathing precedents, with a deep soaking tub positioned beneath natural light.

Behind the walls, the historic Brooklyn townhouse renovation also rethinks the building’s performance. Gas fixtures and steam radiators were removed in favor of all-electric systems with heat-pump conditioned air, while new insulation and upgraded windows improve thermal performance. Rooftop solar panels help offset energy demand.

View the full project: Lefferts Manor House – Brooklyn Townhouse Renovation