FAIRY TALE OF NEW YORK

Marysia Woroniecka has lled her Brooklyn brownstone with art and antiques that are worthy of the grandeur of the house itself

A beautiful Brooklyn brownstone lled with antique furniture, mirrors and textiles from around the globe

arysia Woroniecka took a lot of persuading to move away from Manha an. In fact, it probably never would have happened if it hadn’t been for her then-husband’s persistence, with a li le help from none other than Spike Lee. It was the late 1990s and Marysia, who moved to New York from London in 1995, was running around town having a blast. She had set up her own fashion consultancy rm and the newly married couple were renting a Manha an lo with views of the Empire State Building – as she says, ‘living the dream’. And she would have continued like this quite happily, if her husband hadn’t insisted that they should buy somewhere, and lured her over the East River to check out his old neighbourhood of Fort Greene.

‘I’d grown up in Kensington, so I was very snooty about being the other side of the river, and didn’t want to ever feel like I was living in the suburbs,’ says Marysia. ‘But then we were living on this very commercial street at 27th and Broadway, surrounded by discount T-shirt and handbag stores, and it was so noisy and lthy.’ Marysia had heard a bit about the leafy suburb of

Fort Greene, which had been gaining a reputation as a creative hub since artists started moving there in the 1980s. The lm director Spike Lee had set up his lm company there and, as Marysia recalls, ‘it was a very cool neighbourhood, with a lot of young creative people doing cool things. But really, nobody I knew lived in Brooklyn at that point – absolutely nobody’.

It was a trip to visit a friend-of-afriend in the area that nally made her drop her preconceptions and fall in love with the quiet tree-lined streets of brownstones, built in the 1860s. She also realised that it was incredibly close to Manha an – just a ve-minute drive from the Manha an Bridge – and as one half of an interracial couple, a place where they could feel at home – ‘the neighbourhood looked like ‘us’,’ she says. It was also somewhere in which they could acquire a whole house, rather than just an apartment, and a er several months of searching, they came across the perfect property – a four-storey townhouse on one of Fort Greene’s loveliest streets.

‘The lady we bought the house from had lived here for 40 years. She was 101!’ says Marysia. ‘What was fantastic was that, unlike many similar houses, which had been chopped up

Against the blank canvas of these enormous light spaces, Marysia has built up a colourful, eclectic and personal collection of antique furniture, mirrors, lamps, textiles and art.

and lost their beautiful details, this one was pre y much intact.’ Walking in to what Americans call ‘the parlour oor’ (the hallway level), Marysia was bowled over by the light and height of the living room, with its oor-toceiling windows, decorative parquet oor and two marble replaces, one in the front and one in the back. The house also retained its ceiling mouldings, original staircase and banisters, plus further replaces and original ooring throughout. ‘It was grand and lovely,’ says Marysia – and also crying out to be lled with art and antiques.

The couple moved in in February 2000. The house needed to be re-wired and, to their horror, they discovered that the two-storey extension at the back – which houses the kitchen and the basement at’s living room – had been built without foundations, meaning a large portion of the budget was sunk into remedying that. They lived in their home in a makeshi state for a couple of years then, once the at was let and they had a bit more income, they put in a new kitchen.

For the decorating, Marysia chose white throughout. ‘I like the freshness of white,’ she says. ‘I love colour

‘Everything in the house is, in fact, super personal. They’re all things I’ve chosen for this house and, a er nearly 20 years, somehow feel a part of me.’

in my furnishings and art, but I’m not very brave about colour on the walls.’ Against the blank canvas of these enormous light spaces, she has built up a colourful, eclectic and enormously personal collection of antique furniture, mirrors and lamps, textiles from around the world, and art by artists working in New York or who she has met on her travels.

‘My ex-husband is an artist and through him I got to know artists working in the city,’ she says. ‘Over time I’ve developed a more informed eye and got more perspective and a bit more knowledge. I’d love to buy more, but not only can I not a ord it, but I don’t actually have room on the walls!’ Her living room features work by New York artists Mickalene Thomas and Kara Walker, while in her bedroom, the space above the bed has been given to a diptych by Sidney Mang’ong’o.

A self-confessed ‘terrible hoarder’ Marysia has a tendency to hang on to every li le thing. ‘When I pick something up, I get a strong sense of where I was when I got it and what I was thinking at the time.’ Above all, her mirrors are her most prized assets. ‘I would never part with them. The one over the main replace hung in my mother’s living room. Everything in the house, in fact, is super personal. They’re all things I’ve chosen for this house and, a er nearly 20 years of living here, somehow feel a part of me.’

The sitting room, with its lofty ceilings and full-height windows, is flooded with light. The whitewashed walls amplify the sense of sunlight and space. The painted Regency chair and ornate gilt overmantel mirror are both family heirlooms. Colour comes in the form of bright cushions and a Moroccan rug.

FEATURE DOMINIQUE CORLETT PHOTOGRAPHS MARCO BERTOLINI/ LIVING INSIDE STYLING ALISON ATTENBOROUGH/ LIVING INSIDE

The Owner Marysia Woroniecka, a partner at fashion brand Zero + Maria Cornejo (zeromariacornejo.com), lives here. Originally from London, Marysia has lived in New York since 1995.

The Property A four-storey brownstone in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, built around 1860. Set over three floors, the property has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, living and dining room. There is also a separate flat in the basement.

The parquet floor and ornate cornice were among the original features that attracted Marysia to the property. The sleek lines of the mid-century sideboard complement the simplicity of the gilt mirror above. The dining table is by Ilse Crawford for De La Espada and the dining chairs are Cherner. LEFT, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Marysia in her sitting room; Moroccan tea glasses and bronze candlesticks are among the decorative pieces that she uses every day; a Regency chair and pedestal table stand in front of a bespoke mirror by Lisa Vandy in the entrance hall.

Marysia picked up the mid-century chairs in the kitchen at the Brooklyn Flea – the fabric on the table came from a market in Mombasa, Kenya.

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE The house is painted white throughout, which provides the perfect gallery-style backdrop for Marysia’s extensive collection of art and antiques. On the first floor landing, an antique runner from Morocco adds a dash of colour below a selection of framed photographs; a delicate mobile from MOMA hangs in front of a painting by Toby Mott; in the kitchen an inlaid tray from Lamu, Kenya, serves as an attractive informal platter.

A diptych by Sidney Mang’ong’o hangs on the wall in the master bedroom. The bedside tables are vintage G Plan; on the floor is a Beni Ourain rug from Essaouira, Morocco. The bedcover is a cotton kente cloth from Africa. ABOVE RIGHT The octagonal etched mirror hanging above the fireplace was inherited.

The bathroom has a charming vintage vibe and is filled with souvenirs from Marysia’s travels. The vibrant pink rug came from Morocco and adds warmth and colour to the tiled floor. LEFT Metro tiles along the side of the bath and above the basin are a glamorous touch, while an antique shaving mirror and the Thirties kitchen cabinet are characterful as well as practical. The yellow bentwood chair was a flea-market find.