Jane Street Townhouses

Located in the New York City’s West Village, two residences at 9½ and 42 Jane Street were renovated and designed to create light-filled spaces with large skylights and enclosed roof structures that connect with the outdoors.

The renovation of an historic townhouse at 42 Jane Street redeveloped the small footprint of the house with an efficient plan that maximizes the primary living spaces and admits natural light by opening the house up to its site and optimizing interior glazing throughout. The design optimized the house’s tiny site by opening up the side wall of the house and inserting new windows that overlook an adjacent community garden located in the quirky triangle at the intersection of Jane Street and 8th Avenue. Combined with this intervention is a new open stairway designed as a light well, which ascends through the house to incorporate a large skylight, and terminates in a penthouse and open deck on the roof with view to the Empire State Building.

On the first floor are kitchen and dining room spaces, with a small backyard space. A formal living room and an adjacent casual sitting room are located on the second floor. Bedrooms and master suite take up the third and fourth floors, and the fifth floor provides additional space with a new penthouse and deck. The project was designed for residential developer alongside a second project on Jane Street.

9-1/2 Jane Street, a uniquely situated Greenwich Village town house located behind a larger residence in the garden interior of a block, is reached by passing through a garden gate on Jane Street and walking along a small mews-like path. The house’s diminutive floor plate, almost a perfect square in dimension, called for a simple and efficient plan with an open stair that connects all four floors with a roof deck above. Throughout the interiors, bright, smooth surfaces diffuse natural and ambient light across interior spaces. Interventions included the excavation of a basement level to create a large kitchen and dining space; this sunken courtyard allows these spaces to open up to an exterior garden. A living room takes up the first floor, while the second and third floors comprise the master suite and two additional bedrooms. An open air deck on the roof provides outdoor space and expansive views to the otherwise compact house. The renovation of 9 ½ Jane Street, which expanded the potential of the house, was a successful spec house designed for a residential developer.