These historic homes have distinctive architectural details, but they subtly mix contemporary, vintage and antique furnishings. The result? Spaces artfully eclectic, both stylishly edgy and comfortably classic.
Step with us inside “the best of both worlds” – historic homes with modern appeal!
Photo by Olivier Löser
With its spectacular 19th-century painted ceiling and herringbone parquet flooring, this Paris apartment embodies the ideals of the city’s Haussmannian architecture. Isabelle Stanislas sought to create a dialogue between “old and new” when designing the space for an art collector client.
Photo by Justin Bernhaut
In a Gramercy Park apartment, Alexandra Loew used sculptural, chromatic pieces as counterpoints to the space’s classical architectural details.The contemporary photos are by Donald Sultan and Matthew Pillsbury, the Ribbon Chairs are by Jan Eckselius and the 1970s cocktail table is by Lella and Massimo Vegnelli.
Photo by Bess Friday
When interior designer Catherine Kwong created the living room of the 2013 San Francisco Decorator Showcase, she sourced an antique gilt mirror with carvings that echo the ceiling’s fine gold detailing. The custom-painted floor design was inspired by a Cy Twombly painting.
Photos by Francis Amiand
In a Paris residential project known as Apartment 002, Bismut & Bismut placed objects, including Eileen Gray Transat armchairs and a bronze César sculpture, on white platforms that seem to hover around a PETAL coffee table by the designers.
Photo by Stephen Smith/Kristi Stiff Imaginare Co
For the wall surface of a Greenwich Village duplex’s double-height living room, architect Michael Haverland reinterpreted the pattern of the original coffered ceiling using computer-generated shapes. The blue wool-upholstered armchairs are by Marco Zanuso, and the ottoman is by Edward Wormley.
Photo courtesy of Studioilse
The Ett Hem hotel in Stockholm, Sweden was designed by Ilse Crawford and her firm, Studioilse. Crawford updated the property — a 1910 Arts and Craft building — with a mixture of vintage and modern furnishings.
Photo by Gary Hamill
Douglas Mackie reinterpreted this mid-19th-century London townhouse for the modern age by installing a subdued silk wallpaper, and using sophisticated, simple pieces that include a linen-clad Christian Liagre sofa and a Callum Innes painting.
Photo by Kate Martin
The gray silk-sheathed drawing room of a London residence by Peter Mikic features a gilt 19th-century mirror, a marble fireplace surround from Chesney’s and photography by Miles Aldridge.
