What do you do with a tiny backyard that’s only 15 feet wide–and half as long?
A gut renovation by Brooklyn-based architects Lubrano Ciavarra gave the homeowners the opportunity to dig out the backyard and cover the back wall with two tiers of planters, creating a walk-out garden with seating on the ground floor (where the new kitchen is situated).
Brooklyn-based garden designer Marni Majorelle and her team at Alive Structures designed and installed the garden.
Photography by Chris Cooper courtesy of Lubrano Ciavarra.
To the street, the narrow brick house presents a traditional facade.
Looking down on the excavated garden pit from a top floor. Three wood planters with grasses and hanging vines create a vertical garden.
The ground floor kitchen opens to the excavated garden; full-story glass doors replaced the back wall of the house on two levels.
The first-floor parlor looks out onto the top half of the living wall.
The full-height windows completely replace the back wall of the house, to let in sunlight and, when open, to blur the boundaries between indoors and out.
Period details, including a marble mantel and elaborate moldings, are original to the house.
On the narrow roof, a garden has walk-on skylights.