Diana Kellogg updates her Tribeca home using salvaged materials
New York architect Diana Kellogg has renovated her historic Tribeca residence, highlighting materials repurposed from its industrial past.
Kellogg and her family have occupied the home on Staple Street for 25 years, which is close to the studio that the architect shares with her filmmaker husband.
The building originally served as cold storage for neighbouring produce distribution facilities, then became a plumber's supply storefront and eventually a residence around 50 years ago.
Kellogg has renovated and updated the structure gradually over the years, and when her kids moved out, she decided to undertake a more comprehensive overhaul.
An old freight elevator was removed and replaced with a space that Kellogg refers to as the Green Room.
The glass-wrapped nook is lined with cushioned seating and used for intimate catch-ups over drinks, or private video calls.
The salvage from the elevator and other elements around the building were repurposed to create structures for the kitchen, bookcases, and a staircase that connects the four levels.
"Throughout the house there were old glass and steel doors, and windows and stuff," Kellogg said. "I just moved them around and repurposed them."
In keeping with the architecture, the decor remains industrial and spare, highlighting key elements like the fireplace and the 25-foot-long chestnut beams that span the ceiling.
"It was a massive pain in the neck to strip those, but one of the best decisions we made, because they add so much warmth and character," said Kellogg.
During the most recent renovation, the upstairs bedrooms with vaulted brick ceilings were reconfigured as neutrally decorated spaces separated by sliding mahogany doors.
On the ground floor, the children's former playroom – complete with climbing ropes and a swing – was converted into a comfortable TV room, featuring a large L-shaped sofa and a variety of midcentury furniture pieces.
Matching those on the level above, Noguchi pendant lights hang from the steel beams that Kellogg added to suspend the "jungle gym".
"There's still one climbing rope down there that people think is an art piece, which I love," she said.
Key artworks include a pair of photographs by Ljubodrag Andric, which he produced to sit either side of the first-floor fireplace and "give the place so much depth and warmth," said Kellogg.
Downstairs, the walls are adorned with images of The Rajkumari Ratnavati Girl's School that Kellogg completed in 2021 in India's Thar Desert.
The roof terrace was relandscaped with planters and a variety of wooden outdoor furniture that forms dining and seating areas with views of a historic bridge between the adjacent buildings.
"I really wanted an oasis up there, and to have it be a second living room," said Kellogg. "And there's the fabulous bridge, which we have kind of great views of from our house – which is, in my opinion, better than actually being inside it."
Many of Tribeca's former industrial buildings are now residential, housing large lofts and penthouses, while others contain galleries and creative spaces.
Examples of other homes in the neighbourhood include a penthouse in the American Thread Building updated by Crina Arghirescu Rogard and a loft that Andrea Leung renovated to conceal "secret spaces".
The photography is by Andrew Brinka.
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