To walk through this apartment, with its chrome finishes, floating built-ins and lacquered cabinetry, it’s hard to believe that the site it occupies was developed in 1896. Our challenge was to incorporate a two-bedroom apartment over commercial space on a lot just 22 feet wide and 220 feet deep—with three-story buildings on each side—in Georgetown’s historic district.

The solution was deceptively simple. We kept the existing building intact, with only minor modifications, and designed a new residential building in back. The space in between is enclosed as a two-story commercial area, linked to the existing historic building by a glass bridge under a sky-lit roof.

The apartment, meanwhile, has stair access to a roof deck, which offers panoramic views of the Georgetown roofscape, the Potomac River and downtown Washington—a beautiful connection between this forward-thinking apartment and its historic roots.

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