Kathryn Scott Outfits a Minimalist Townhouse in Brooklyn

This article originally appeared in the November 2009 issue of Architectural Digest.

极简主义者,和素食主义者一样,can be categorized by degree, on a scale that ranges from more inclusive to less. One could describe extreme minimalists—the kind who consider, say, two objects on a table to be one too many—as the vegans of the species. They are, in any case, rare.

The co-owner of a lean, elegant new town house in Brooklyn, New York, is decidedly one of these. For her, finding a designer who could accept, and even flourish in, an atmosphere of strict restraint was a requirement. After she found Kathryn Scott, of Kathryn Scott Design Studio, she and the designer "clicked on our shared taste," she says.

Scott was impressed by the client's commitment to simplicity. "Many people who call themselves minimalists have some clutter somewhere in their homes," says the designer, who has offices in Shanghai and Brooklyn Heights. "But this client doesn't. She's one of the few who really live a minimalist lifestyle." The results speak—or rather, whisper—for themselves. "If you have fewer items, everything is precious," Scott points out.

The client and her husband, a businessman, had commissioned an architect to design their house but weren't pleased with the plans he produced. They were far from the more sophisticated approach the couple had in mind. "They used to live in Paris," Scott explains. "She wanted some of that Parisian style."

The designer procured exactly that by commissioning a limestone façade from architect Claude Puaux, of Crea France US. "It looks like it belongs in Le Marais," Scott says of this striking Neoclassical exterior. "It sets the tone for the interior." The architecture was reconfigured to maximize a sense of spaciousness—a challenge, given that this row house is only 19.5 feet across.

The double-height living room's design has a kind of strictness to it—and the palette of a cloud. A soaring French window illuminates furnishings that are so low, pale and monochromatic that they seem on the verge of vanishing altogether. And Scott describes the ethereal photographic landscape, by Tom Brydelsky, above the sofa as projecting "a mysterious translucency."

In keeping with the client's request for a design that was "open and light," there is no wall between the living and dining areas. Yet the two spaces are plainly delineated, in part by disparate color schemes.

Subtle, unexpected details abound. In the downstairs den, for example, the center of each wood wall panel is actually an encaustic wallcovering. In a house of light, the deep brown walls come as a surprise, as if the room were cast against type.

Here in deepest Brooklyn the restrained design of this residence sets it apart. "Houses are like beautiful women," the client says. "With a simple black dress they just look very sophisticated. That's the look I wanted for my house. A Manhattan look in Brooklyn." Consider it done.