Perhaps it’s no surprise this historic Brooklyn Heights duplex comes with some museum-worthy displays of wallpaper.
Asking $4.29 million, its sellers are Jee Levin and Randall Buck — the founders of Trove, a modern wallpaper studio that manufactures its floral and nature-inspired displays in nearby Dumbo. With celebrity clients including Nicole Kidman and Mariska Hargitay, Trove’s work can also be found in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum and the Cooper Hewitt.
Trove, known for its non toxic, eco-friendly and sustainable designs, has also worked with top interior designers like Jamie Drake, and the award winning architect and design firm the Rockwell Group. Hotels from the Hyatt Regency Paris ?toile to the W in San Francisco — and others in New York, Boston and Los Angeles — are also a large part of their client base. Trove can also be found at Holly Hunt New York.
Levin and Buck are artists first.
“We think of it as a conversation between ourselves and then there is a bespoke element — an architect can come in and ask that our design be printed on silk, or have birds flying out the window, whatever is specific to the installation. We are a small design house with big capabilities because we are more flexible than larger firms,” Levin said, adding that they bring the outdoors inside with patterns that include forests, a grove of ferns and butterflies. “We like to draw on the elements and portray the ethereal aspect of nature throughout our work.”
Their two-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom spread is at 220 Columbia Heights with its own garden — on what has been called the most coveted block in Brooklyn Heights. It’s in a six-story, five-unit brownstone that dates to 1860.
The couple paid $1.87 million for the residence in 2013, according to property records. It’s where they live with their two kids, a Shetland sheepdog, a cat and a bunny, and they are selling to move into a three-bedroom in the neighborhood, Levin said.
One of the building’s former owners, Austin K. Sheldon, a European-trained musician and hardware merchant who became president of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, added two upper floors to the structure between 1876 and 1884 that are different from the “sober sandstone” below. He also added a since-removed pyramid-shaped roof, according to archival photos from the Museum of the City of New York.
At a spacious 2,300 square feet, the couple’s unit features original details like 10-foot ceilings, parquet floors, moldings and a fireplace framed in hand-glazed tile. There’s also a turret dining alcove — naturally — with Trove-designed floral wallpaper and curved bay windows, and a chef’s kitchen with custom cabinets.
The lower level includes a guest bedroom and a bath, a mudroom — and a storage area that could convert to a home office, a studio or a playroom.
The listing brokers are Abigail Palanca and Crystal Chancey of Serhant.?
