Diana Kellogg Rebuilds Her Tribeca Home Around a Salvaged Freight Elevator

New York architect Diana Kellogg has overhauled her Tribeca residence at 4 Staple Street — and the demolition of an old freight elevator supplied much of the new material. Kellogg and her family have lived in the home for 25 years, near the studio she shares with her filmmaker husband.

The building has changed trades three times. It began as cold storage for neighbouring produce distribution facilities, became a plumber's supply storefront, and turned into a residence roughly 50 years ago.

Kellogg renovated the structure in stages. When her children moved out, she committed to a more comprehensive overhaul.

What did the salvage become?

The removed freight elevator made way for a glass-wrapped nook Kellogg calls the Green Room. It holds cushioned seating and serves intimate drinks catch-ups or private video calls.

Elevator parts and other material harvested around the building now form:

• kitchen structures,
• bookcases,
• a steel staircase connecting the home's four levels.

"Throughout the house there were old glass and steel doors, and windows and stuff," Kellogg said. "I just moved them around and repurposed them."

How industrial is the interior?

Very. The decor stays spare and industrial, foregrounding the fireplace and 25-foot-long chestnut beams spanning the ceiling.

"It was a massive pain in the neck to strip those, but one of the best decisions we made, because they add so much warmth and character," said Kellogg.

Upstairs, bedrooms with vaulted brick ceilings were reconfigured as neutrally decorated spaces divided by sliding mahogany doors.

On the ground floor, the children's former playroom — once fitted with climbing ropes and a swing — is now a TV room with a large L-shaped sofa and midcentury furniture. Noguchi pendant lights hang from steel beams Kellogg added to suspend the old "jungle gym," matching fixtures on the floor above.

"There's still one climbing rope down there that people think is an art piece, which I love," she said.

Art includes a pair of photographs by Ljubodrag Andric, made to flank the first-floor fireplace and "give the place so much depth and warmth," said Kellogg. Downstairs walls carry images of the Rajkumari Ratnavati Girl's School, which Kellogg completed in 2021 in India's Thar Desert.

What happened to the roof?

The roof terrace was relandscaped with planters and wooden outdoor furniture forming dining and seating areas. Views take in a historic bridge between the adjacent buildings.

"I really wanted an oasis up there, and to have it be a second living room," said Kellogg. "And there's the fabulous bridge, which we have kind of great views of from our house — which is, in my opinion, better than actually being inside it."

The project joins a wave of Tribeca conversions: many of the neighbourhood's former industrial buildings now hold large lofts and penthouses, alongside galleries and creative spaces. Recent examples include a penthouse in the American Thread Building updated by Crina Arghirescu Rogard and a loft Andrea Leung renovated to conceal "secret spaces" — a pattern that keeps salvage-driven residential adaptation central to the district's identity.

Photography is by Andrew Brinka.