Boerum Hill is one of Brooklyn’s oldest neighborhoods, once part of the original Dutch settler town of Breuckelen. In the 1960s and 70s, the area fell on hard times, and many of its old buildings were slated for demolition, including beautiful 19th-century gems like its neoclassical former New York Times printing plant. Determined to save their community, residents banded together and established a neighborhood association. The printing plant is now a public school thanks in part to their efforts, and other old industrial structures in the area have since been taken over by artists as their homes and studios.

OSSO Architecture, a New York City-based firm founded in 2017 by Margot Otten and Douglas Segulja, worked with Ashiru to design and furnish the space with features like a wood island, new Bosch appliances, and an alcohol-burning hanging fireplace by Fireorb, which itself meets all New York City’s strict rules about ventilation.
Cities are like living organisms, constantly changing and evolving. While we’d love to see a lot more projects converting cool old structures into affordable housing, it’s nice to see renovations that honor the character and history of their original buildings and the neighborhoods around them – projects that work hard to preserve architectural elements instead of merely replacing them with something new.

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