Service Areas — New York
Brooklyn Architecture & Interior Design
Brooklyn's building stock — brownstones, wood-frames, row houses, converted industrial — is some of the most rewarding architecture to work with in the country. LEAP designs Brooklyn projects that restore what should be honored and rethink what needs to change, block by block, from Park Slope to Bed-Stuy to Prospect Heights.
Brownstones and row houses
Parlor floors reopened to their original scale, rear extensions that catch southern light, cellar-to-roof re-plans that turn a chopped-up rental into a family home. We know the typology cold.
Landmarked and non-landmarked
In LPC districts, we prepare and shepherd landmark applications. Outside them, we still design in a way that respects the block.
Building performance
Old Brooklyn homes leak energy. We upgrade envelopes, add heat pumps, and swap in efficient windows without erasing the character that made you buy the place.
Local knowledge that shapes the work
Building regulations in Brooklyn
Brooklyn renovation runs through NYC DOB like the rest of the city, but with two local emphases: LPC review across the borough's many landmarked districts — Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene and more — and the structural realities of nineteenth-century row-house construction. Rear-yard additions must also thread zoning's open-space and rear-yard requirements, which we analyze before design begins.
Neighborhoods and building stock
Brownstone Brooklyn — Park Slope, Bed-Stuy, Prospect Heights, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill — anchors our borough work, alongside wood-frame houses in Ditmas Park and converted industrial lofts in Gowanus and Williamsburg. Each typology renovates differently, and the block context matters: the best Brooklyn projects honor the rhythm of their row.
Design considerations we bring
The classic Brooklyn design brief: reopen a chopped-up row house into a family home, pull southern light into the parlor floor, and connect the kitchen to a garden the previous century ignored. Add the structural quirks of 120-year-old joists and party walls, and you have our favorite kind of problem.
“Eric listened before he sketched. Our home finally feels like ours — every room got smarter without losing what we loved about the house.”
Questions we hear from Brooklyn clients
How much does a brownstone renovation cost in Brooklyn?
Full renovations of a multi-story brownstone generally run from the high hundreds of thousands into the low millions, depending on scope, finish level, and what the building hides. The honest way to budget is a feasibility study with selective probes — we tell you what the house will likely demand before you commit, not after demolition.
Can I add a rear extension to my row house?
Often yes, within zoning's rear-yard and floor-area limits — and a modest, well-designed extension can transform the parlor and garden levels. In landmarked districts the design also goes through LPC, which favors extensions that defer to the original building. We check both constraints in the first two weeks.
Do you restore original details or replace them?
Restore what's good, reproduce what's missing, and be honest where contemporary work serves the house better. Original plaster, stairs, and millwork are usually worth saving — they're also why you bought the house. Our drawings distinguish restore, replicate, and replace element by element, so the pricing and the philosophy are both clear.
How do you handle party walls with attached neighbors?
Carefully and legally. Work near shared walls can require license agreements with adjacent owners, pre-construction surveys, and monitoring. We identify party-wall implications during design, coordinate the agreements, and detail the work so your project protects both buildings — and both relationships.
Planning a project in Brooklyn, NY?
Book a free, no-obligation consultation with Eric Davenport, AIA, NCARB. We'll listen first, ask the right questions, and show you exactly what's possible for your home, your budget, and your site.