This was “point zero,” the very first residential project we designed as a team. Jill and Peter Kraus were two of our closest friends. About to outgrow an apartment ten blocks away, the Krauses purchased this prewar apartment despite its two shortcomings but with the faith that we could find a solution. The kitchen and two maid’s rooms were Dickensian, and there was no playroom for their two sons. By borrowing two feet from the dining room, moving the kitchen next to it, and rotating the remaining two rooms ninety degrees to create a maid’s room/bath (with two windows) and a playroom, the shortcomings were eliminated.
Working with a tight budget that was mostly devoted to needed reconfiguration, we then concentrated the remaining budget on the entry. Supported by adventuresome and visually sophisticated clients, the use of strong color in the Krause Apartment is proof of saying that paint is the least expensive architecture.
Photographs © Paul Warchol