Elizabeth Roberts - Calderone Townhouse

After a recent media offense (a new website and a somewhat snitty article in the New York Times), I wanted to write about Elizabeth Roberts, the queen of brownstone renovations. If you read the hilarious comments on the Times’ article where she is blamed all the way from the New York City housing crisis to the destruction of “authentic” brownstones (whatever that means), what becomes clear is that she is the standard bearer for high quality brownstone renovations in Brooklyn. Or in the words of Oliver Freundlich “She has grown a portfolio that has helped her be defined for an aesthetic that’s become sought after.” With a seductive trifecta of meticulously staged photographs, well crafted design and a star-powered clientele (actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, the fashion designers Ulla Johnson and Rachel Comey) you sometimes lose between the fluff, little innovations such as this elegant answer to where to put the television if you really like media. Most people will try to fit it on the parlor level, but I dare you to find me a good example of a that. Roberts instead dedicates this central but windowless space, always an peculiar spot in the building and finds the perfect functional solution in Athena Calderone's four story brownstone in Cobble Hill.

Architecture by Elizabeth Roberts
Photography by Gieves Anderson