BEAUX ARTS HISTORIC HOME -DRAMATIC TRANSFORMATION

The House in New Rochelle, NY, dated 1910’s was one of the homes built for James Cash Penney when his family moved to New York. This secluded mansion designed by Frederick G. Frost in Beaux Arts style features much original detail including a full-size pipe organ incorporated into the structure and an indoor fountain.

It became apparent that the house was in serious need of an update to suite its current owners - a young family with small children. Peeling paint causing led exposure and crumbling internal structures were the catalyst for this renovation. AZR Design Group was hired to handle the concept planning and execution of decorative and design work. For Anastasia Zhe and Rashid Akmanov this very ambitious project began as an immersive study of the home's rich history.

At this phase the work included the solarium, the library, and the dining room. There was a choice of design solutions presented at the planning stage. The purpose was to make the rooms serve the needs of the present, at the same time staying true to the eclectic nature of Beaux Arts. Innately contemporary 21st-century elements of comfort were brought into the mix with the historic, such as modern lighting and furniture together with more traditional finishes and window treatments, but interpreted in a new way.

Completed rooms boast a variety of selected environmentally friendly interior finishes such as Venetian plasters, and French lime paint, mural elements and genuine gold leaf applications, used with the intent of keeping the environment uncontaminated and at the same time appealing to a sense of the history of the house.

The project continues to be in progress with the right wing of the second floor under construction. There are also plans put in place for state of the art home theater and a wine cellar on the ground floor.

See images of the "before and during" renovations in the slides below: