This project expanded an 1865 frame rowhouse on a corner in an up-and-coming section of Downtown Jersey City. The addition contains stairs, bathrooms, a deck off the main living area and a kitchen for a tenant apartment, maximizing the the original structure for living space.

A brick wall from a long gone corner building was incorporated and left exposed, as were many original beams in the old structure, Original pine floors were reinstalled in the living room.

The exterior design incorporates the material vocabulary of the adjacent neighborhood -- vinyl siding, aluminum windows; the pattern of the stained plywood on the stair tower recreates that of the stonework on a 19th Century railroad embankment behind the house; the security grilles use rebar bent to reference the exposed wires of the above ground utilities. The trim color on the overhang above the front door references the copper steeple of the cathedral church down the next block; the new windows on the rear yard elevation frame views of this landmark. The original cornice was restored and the two adjacent houses have since had it restored as well, anchoring the house to it’s site.