brooklyn revival

Drawing on traditional craftsmanship, creative duo Lyndsay Caleo and Fitzhugh Karol have brought a 19th-century brownstone into the 21st century without losing its inherent character

- Susan Springate

It was quite literally a labour of love for designer Lyndsay Caleo and her sculptor husband Fitzhugh Karol to renovate this stunning five-bedroom brownstone in the heart of New York’s fashionable Brooklyn Heights district. ‘In the three years since we took it on, we got married and had two babies. I was pretty much pregnant or had a babe in arms the whole time,’ says the former jewellery designer, who is mother to Charlotte, two, and seven-month-old Fitzhugh, and who spearheads The Brooklyn Home Company, a family-run development firm. It was for their company that they took this project on.

‘Becoming a mother really shifted the way I approached the design and layout of this house,’ explains Lyndsay. ‘I daydreamed about how it would work for my own family. I wanted it to be a place where everyone could come together in the kitchen and living room, but then find peace and quiet elsewhere. It’s a large house, so we had to add texture and warmth. We didn’t want it to feel as if you were jingling around in it.’