Brooklyn practice Arnold Studio has designed this light-filled apartment inside a historic brick house in the borough's Clinton Hill neighbourhood.
The project, called Clinton Residence, occupies the upper two floors of a four-storey brick home that dates back to the 1800s. Designed as a grand mansion, the building has a red brick and stone exterior, with a number of decorative details.

Arnold Studio's redesign aims to fuse old and new within the apartment, by using black and white details to contrast with the home's original architectural elements.
On the first floor, the studio created an open-plan kitchen, living room and dining area. The lounge and kitchen are separated by an existing fireplace featuring a wood mantel that relates to the home's existing panelled wood doors and window trim.
The walls are painted bright white, while pale wood floors contrast with dark wood ceiling beams overhead. The joists and sub-floor were sandblasted and stained black.
The kitchen also features a combination of black and white. Built-in cabinets are designed to blend in with the white-painted walls, while a dark island with a black soapstone countertop provides a stark contrast.

"White oak wood floors and exposed blackened ceiling joists counter one another to highlight the perimeter wall surfaces, which contain both original historical casement details and distinctly modern cabinetry elements," said Arnold Studio.

A dining set and modernist bucket chair both in black a...