Photography by Hollister Hovey.
Ground Architecture’s Eli Fernald—the developer, architect, and general contractor behind 96 King Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn—is telling me about a recent encounter with passersby outside his building: “We’re pretty close to the cruise ship terminals...
...and lots of tourists get off and walk around the neighborhood. One day, I see an older Russian couple, standing on the corner and arguing. They keep talking and looking up at the building. And, finally, the guy looks to me and asks, ‘Is this building new?’ ”
Eli and the Hovey sisters give us a tour of Unit #2.
The open-concept space is light-filled thanks to a wall of oversized windows.
“We normally go very heavy on art, but those lime plaster walls are like art in themselves, so there was no way we were going near them with a hammer or drill,” says Porter.
Cutting through the core of the home is the building’s stairwell, which in each unit manifests as a concrete wall.
Hovering over the dining table is the Hive light, in yellow, by Verner Panton and surrounding it are 1960s Italian rosewood chairs.
Terra-cotta bricks have better energy and sound performance, says Eli, and lends the space a warm glow.
“We used many of Farrah Sit’s incredible lamps, vessels, and vases. They really help complete the space and play off the light so beautifully,” says Hollister.
The floors are salvaged heart pine; all the doors and trim are Douglas fir.
A wood-burning brick fireplace with firewood storage below.
Essential Grey marble extends to the window sills in the kitchen.
The apartment “felt so Spanish—like teleporting to the Balearic Islands,” says Hollister.
The apartment has three bedrooms.
The terrazzo sink and tiled floors are from Huguet Mallorca.
The zellige tiles, in Absinthe, lining the shower stall are from Zia Tile.
A smaller bedroom styled for kids. The astronaut backpack is from the Kennedy Space Center Shop.
In the sleep alcove, a pair of twin beds, each dressed up with a Liewood comforter from Smallable and raffia pillows from Burke Decor.
The wall in the kids’ bathroom is lined with cement tiles in Mint from Zia Tile. Here’s another project the Hoveys worked on, this one for architecture firm Fabr, of which Eli was a founding a member.