For this small townhouse from 1889 and new addition, our clients wanted a house with a modern spirit that retained a sense of the past. Through a reinterpretation of traditional room making, details, and materials we invoked a sense of Victorian space but with fluid boundaries between rooms that reach out beyond the building and into the garden. Sculptural ceiling beams unite the old house with the addition – a corner of glass and steel built in the conceptual territory between “conservatory” and “glass house”. Abstracted fireplaces, book shelves that float free of their heavy cases, and baseboards pared down from wainscoting create a lucid place between traditional and modern design. Old fashioned white marble, ironwork, etched glass tile and wood plank flooring all look at first familiar but are fresh on second glance.