Here are creative, city-tested solutions to meeting the challenges of metro living. In The New City Home, Leslie Plummer Clagett provides you with design ideas for a wide variety of urban living spaces -- from lofts to apartments to townhouses. Throughout the book, Clagett looks at a variety of specific examples that show ingenuity and practicality. For example, youll learn how a New York brownstone was restored to its original condition while its interior was opened up for a refreshingly modern feel.

Youll discover how to make the most of limited space, bring in light and views, reduce noise, maintain privacy, and live in a building with historic-landmark status. Whether youre already at home in the metropolis or contemplating a move there, The New City Home will help you create your personal space in an impersonal place.

The New City Home features:

• 25 of the most well-planned and appealing urban spaces in the United States and Canada
• innovative ideas for creating a comfortable, well-crafted city homeHouses that represent a broad range of metro building types and the full spectrum of homeowner type (single young people, married couples, empty nesters)
• design solutions that can be applied to many multi-residential situations, not just major metros

"...the best in metropolitan design...the spaces chosen share a blend of artistry and practicality shaped to serve the needs of those who live there."
-- Publishers Weekly

About the author:
Leslie Plummer Clagetts passion for urban residential architecture includes over 20 years of writing articles on the subject for publications such as The New York Times Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Herald-Examiner. She lives in New York City.

Introduction

Part 1 BACK TO THE CITY

Part 2 LOFTS
Alley Architecture | San Francisco
Seven Arches Define a TriBeCa Loft | New York City
Bringing a Box to Life | Boston
A Sensitive Separation | New York City
On the Fringe of the City | Richmond
A Chorus of Materials | New York City
A Glass Act | Baltimore
Thinking inside the Box | Boston

Part 3 APARTMENTS
Urbane Renewal | New Orleans
Residential Meets Retail | Portland
Shadows and Illusions in a Manhattan Apartment | New York City
Elevating the Design of a Chicago High-Rise | Chicago
A House for Entertaining | Philadelphia

Part 4 TOWN HOUSES
A Tale of Two Stories | Toronto
Built from the Top Down | Los Angeles
Industrial Merger | Minneapolis
Reclaiming a New York Brownstone | New York City
Sylvan Surprise | Toronto
Bridging Past and Present | New York City
Town-House Renovation Passes the Test of Times | Chicago
Living on the Levels | Montreal
Preserving Independence | Philadelphia
Capitol Gains | Washington, D.C.

Directory of Architects

The metropolis is heady with architectural contrasts: the collisions between big and not-so-big structures, edifices new and old, ornate and ordinary designs, glass and masonry and steel, good buildings and bad. The large-scale cacophony that's so stimulating on a sensory level can prove to be destabilizing when it comes to making a home in the city. Toward the goal of making this book informative as well as inspiring, I've worked to make it a realistic road map to design dilemmas while mirroring the diversity that's typical of urban areas.

For a start, there's a geographic balance to the content. While the traditional big-city bases -- Boston, Philadelphia, and of course New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles -- are covered, the book also features an itinerary of other locations. New Orleans, Toronto, Baltimore, Richmond, Portland, Montreal, and Minneapolis are just some of the cities included that confirm that the boom in downtown living isn't restricted to multimillion population centers.

Rather than focusing on a single housing type, a full menu of homes is represented. In addition to an assortment of high-rise apartments, town houses, and lofts, I also look at some more offbeat abodes, such as a converted auto shop and a former stable.

While the artistic appeal of the homes is of a constant caliber, this book provides a broader and deeper picture than is typically found. Instead of adopting a "fait accompli" point of view, I go behind the scenes to identify the impetus behind each project, examining how the design was developed. Responding to the needs of growing families and empty nesters, of wheelchair users and full-time home workers, these residences display a high standard of both aesthetics and ingenuity.

Living in such a compressed context engenders its own set of day-to-day difficulties, and this book supplies a battery of city-tested solutions. From tips on the fine art of maximizing storage space to dealing with the ever-present noise, each chapter has a special section that focuses on a specific issue of urban living.

Whether you're already at home in the metropolis or contemplating a move there, The New City Home can help you create your personal space in an impersonal place.