How does one transform a raw, industrial New York City loft into a graceful refuge? This was the puzzle architect Elizabeth Steimberg’s clients brought her. The young couple – she from New Orleans, he from New Zealand – wanted their 4000-square-foot SoHo home to reflect the stately houses of the South while showcasing her antiques and his family art collection. “It wouldn’t occur to me to do a traditional loft in SoHo,” Steimberg muses. “But traditional doesn’t have to mean heavy and dark.”
The architect’s rethinking of the condo began with a symmetrical footprint and classical details reminiscent of Southern homes. She started in the foyer – once raw concrete and steel – reimagining it as a welcoming space on a classical axis. Paneled millwork conceals the elevator and hidden stair door. A structural column is wrapped in a fluted Doric shell, its twin added purely for balance. “The idea was to create a foyer that was totally symmetrical,” the architect explains. “But it’s really a trick of the eye.”
The space sets the stage for what’s yet to unfold throughout the home: traditional moldings, light-filled rooms and an elevated mix of vintage pieces and historic New Zealand artwork. Photographs of Māori women greet guests upon entry, while ancestral portraits of the husband’s family hang on the living room walls. The infusion of the husband’s art continues with a Charles Frederick Goldie painting of Māori chief Te Kamaka atop the coffee table and two carved door jambs from a Māori assembly house serving as sculptural guardians flanking the window wall. On either side of the room, glass bifold doors create a flexible plan, closing in to an intimate cocoon or opening to link it with the library, kitchen and den. “The idea was that it could shift from quiet rooms to a grand loft, simply by opening the doors,” the architect explains.
Steimberg took this open-plan concept one step further in the kitchen and den, removing the wall between the cooking space and former library to create a generous family hub, intentionally keeping it very bright and white. Custom cabinetry climbs to ten-foot tin ceilings, reached by a rolling ladder. A gray-and-white-checkerboard floor grounds the space in classical style while still feeling fresh. In the den, a marble antique fireplace brings a jewel-box moment of European classicism. “By making this space all one room, it becomes a beautiful working place,” Steimberg notes. “But it’s also cozy and luminous.”
For the new library, Steimberg needed functional beauty, as the wife wanted to also use it as a craft room. The architect once again turned to moldings and casings, then designed built-ins that conceal creative materials in what feels like a refined atelier. Just beyond this is the primary bedroom, which was driven by the wife’s passion for vintage pieces. The jumping-off point was an antique headboard, and from there, Steimberg layered in vintage lighting. Custom built-ins climb to the ceiling, balancing classical stature with everyday function. The en suite echoes the language with its custom millwork and traditional crown moldings.
Flexibility comes full circle in the guest room, where a Murphy bed custom-designed by Steimberg provides a place for visitors to rest their heads, complete with side tables for books and trinkets. It transforms into a work desk surrounded by built-in bookcases when not in use. The thoughtfully designed dual-use solution speaks to the greater success of the whole project. “It was an interesting challenge to create something traditional from a space with an industrial feel,” Steimberg shares. “The result is timeless, classic and clean.”
Photography by Max Kim-Bee.
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