By 1919, William M. Calder had built so many houses in the neighborhoods near Prospect Park that the area was dubbed Calderville. A Brooklyn Daily Eagle article from that year numbered Calder’s homes at 700, and lauded the area’s “wide, clean streets lined with beautiful shade trees” as being “on top of Brooklyn.” By the time of Calder’s death in 1945, his New York Times obituary put that number at 3,500 homes, which often lined entire city blocks in the neighborhoods of Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Flatbush and Sheepshead Bay. By that point, notes the story, Calder was “credited as having done more during the last 30 years for the growth of his home borough than anyone else.”

Calder’s father was a local builder named Alexander Calder, so he got into the family business at the age of 13 as a carpenter’s apprentice, and later became a builder, architect, Brooklyn building commissioner, and U.S. congressman. A 1922 New York Times article notes that he was known for the “Calder house,” a two-family house “almost peculiar to Brooklyn and practically unknown to Manhattan,” with two separate entries to the upstairs and downstairs flats, two separate porches, and a backyard with enough space for both families.

In 1909, Calder ran an advertisement for a block of two-family homes in the Windsor Terrace neighborhood, just steps from Prospect Park. Their exteriors feature full-height bay windows (either rounded or with squared corners), limestone facades carved with decorative panels of swirling botanical patterns, and additional flourishes and dentil molding at the cornices.

Over a century later, that historic detail is what drew Serena and Andrew, a couple relocating with their family from a two-bedroom apartment in Carroll Gardens, to purchase a home on the block in 2021. “I love the old home thing,” says Serena, who spent her early years in a historic home in Washington Heights. “They’re something I feel a nostalgic appreciation for.” Andrew came to the idea differently.

“I’m from New York City and grew up in a 30-story apartment building and had never lived in a house in my entire life,” says Andrew. “On one hand, I didn’t know what I was getting into with getting a house and taking on a renovation, but on the other, it just seemed like this very beautiful lifestyle: having a house with a backyard in this quiet pocket of Brooklyn.”

At some point, the couple’s Calder home had been converted to a single-family residence that spans its three floors and 2,780 square feet. It had an abundance of original features inside and out—like the intricate fretwork above the stairs in the foyer, built-in leaded-glass cabinets, and heavy five-panel wood doors with brass hardware. “They feel substantive in your hand,” says Andrew of the latter.

But with those elements, came a ’90s-era renovation that made the kitchen and baths feel bland and out of touch with Calder’s vision. Serena and Andrew reached out to architect Sonya Lee to address those problem areas.

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

Much of the project involved infrastructure updates: swapping drafty windows for energy-efficient, aluminum-clad wood versions and installing new electrical, plumbing, and central air-conditioning systems. “We sort of snuck around all the nice details that we were able to preserve,” says Lee.

The biggest intervention involved reformatting the garden-level living spaces, where Lee removed poorly located closet storage to create a larger kitchen and dining room that connects to the rear garden. A bank of storage along one wall handles various needs—from children’s art supplies to picnic paraphernalia, pantry goods, and cleaning tools—and has a counter for easy serving during parties.

Before: Closet

After: Dining Area and Custom Storage

Upstairs, Lee took space from an airshaft to enlarge the hall bathroom and create a skylit shower. Elsewhere, smaller moves to improve function and flow include relocating the laundry closer to the bedrooms, and adding dedicated home offices for both parents. “The idea was that this was going to be their forever home with a playful, useful quality to it,” says Lee.

After: Sitting Room

The new finishes run neatly into the old in most places—the herringbone wood floors in the kitchen transition to the restored, inlaid wood floors of the parlor—although a few spots veer more playful and personal. In the kitchen, the Semihandmade cabinet doors are painted a sage green with oversized half-moon cabinet pulls, while the bathroom has brightly patterned cement tiles from Popham in the shower. “That was my big indulgence,” says Serena. “I’m more inclined toward poppy stuff, fun patterns, and things that are a little out of the ordinary.”

After: Living Room

After: Guest Bedroom

The remodel wrapped up a year ago, and since moving in the couple have been enjoying the character and comfort of their rehabbed Calder home. “Even though it has this old, classic feel, it’s modernized,” says Serena. “We’ve never had a place with central air-conditioning, or a new kitchen to cook in, but we’ve had lots of places with character. It’s nice to have both of those at the same time.”

Before: Upstairs Bedroom

After: Children’s Bedroom

Before: Bathroom

After: Bathroom

After: Primary Bedroom

More Before & After stories:

A Series of Unfortunate Updates Are Reversed at This Brooklyn Brownstone

Just-Right Furnishings and a Few Shades of Paint Punch Up a Brooklyn Brownstone

Their Job Is Discovering Hidden Gems. Their Brooklyn Townhouse Is One of Them

Project Credits:

Architecture: Sonya Lee Architect llc / @sonyaleearchitect

Builder: Black Square Builders

Other: D'Antonio Consulting Engineers (MEP)

Photographer: Hanna Grankvist

Appears In

Before & After: Their Brooklyn Limestone Was Trapped in the ’90s, so They Set It Free