A light-toned coffee and pastry shop in Manhattan's NoMad district provides a front for a secret subterranean bar behind, both with interiors by Carpenter + Mason.
Patent Coffee and Patent Pending occupy the cellar of the Radiowave Building, where inventor Nikola Tesla once lived and worked, in the area named for its location north of Madison Square Park.

Opened earlier this year by Ryan McKenzie, a founding partner of hospitality-focused creative agency Simmer, the concept has two identities that allow it to operate both during the day and after dark.
The space is divided into two, with the coffee shop located at the front and open during daylight hours. Only when evening comes does the hidden speakeasy behind come into use.

"After 5pm, the doors lock and things get a bit more surreptitious," said a statement from Patent. "To access the 34-seat cocktail cave, patrons buzz in at street level, traverse through the candle-lit coffee shop and slip through a concealed door." To design the pair of distinctly different spaces, Simmer collaborated with Carpenter + Mason ? the Brooklyn-based studio behind the interior of the recently opened Tonchin restaurant not far away.

In the cafe, white walls and light-toned wood contrast exposed red brick and black mosaic tiles. Colourful marble chosen for the countertop is also used as frames for floral decorations on the walls.
Behind the inconspicuous folding door, the "cocktail cave" is much more cellar-li...