The ingredients for a spirited and creative renovation were all there: an ebullient art collection, a historic building with lots of details intact, and, of course, dream clients: friendly and approachable artists looking for a new live-work situation. And for Rustam Mehta and Tal Schori, the founding partners at Brooklyn-based GRT Architects , it was an exciting opportunity for a project where, Rustam says, “simplicity and elegance were a goal—but in no way did that mean minimal or expensive.”

The subtle but striking moldings complete the outline of the kitchen, where good light and strong cabinetry take center stage.

The project began when artists Ruby Sky Stiler and Daniel Gordon , along with their growing young family, were in the market for a place where they could live, work, exhibit, and even host in-laws after facing an uncertain future as renters of separate art studios and an underground gallery. So when the couple found a 19th-century row house that had been used as the Seneca Club, a local Democratic institution, since the 1920s, they saw a diamond in the rough: high ceilings, open spaces on the parlor level, and plenty of room for a live-work arrangement (not to mention a remaining pay phone and a stash of vintage political ads tucked away in a closet!).

A high-gloss oil finish protects the historic wood floor. Gallery-style lighting replaced decorative pendants in Daniel’s studio on the parlor floor.