Custom-made pinewood cabinetry and white marble walls feature in this 19th-century row house in New Jersey, which has been overhauled by local studio Jeff Jordan Architects.

Jeff Jordan Architects renovated the four-storey Wayne Street Row House in Jersey City to create bright and airy interiors with plenty of daylight. Among the studio's challenges was placing windows, as neighbouring buildings on the home's longest sides left only limited space on the front, rear and roof.

The residence had also already undergone many alterations and was left with mismatch of spaces linked by a narrow hallway. This blocked any light filtering through the front and back walls, so prompted the team to strip out a series of partitions and limit the introduction of new walls.
"The building had undergone countless renovations over the years that had left each floor an incoherent assemblage of bizarrely proportioned rooms and claustrophobic hallways," said the architects. "By removing unnecessary walls and using more efficient room layouts, we were able to provide a design that was well-ordered and pleasantly spacious."

Pinewood and white marble tiles lining the walls and the ceilings have a pale hue to keep the spaces light and bright. "Light-coloured materials such as white marble and clear pine were used to brighten the most entombed areas of the house," the team said.

On the ground floor, the house now features an open-plan kitchen, living and dining ...