Is there anything that has not been said about a minimalist lofts in Soho? The height and scale of the rooms, the tall windows, The sparse window treatments, the diffused natural light, the natural hues, the light wood, the textures of the white upholstery…
Yet, we find ourselves attracted to yet another such minimalist Soho loft. This one was designed by the Austin Texas-based Christina Cole Studio established by Christina Cole Abboud who has taught Architecture, Urban Design and History at the Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, DC, and in Barcelona, Spain.
In this particular Soho loft, Christina Cole Studio was in charge of interior furnishings and custom millwork. Our eyes are drawn to a few features and pieces that deserve further attention. We especially like the elegant division of the spacious open living space.
It is divided into functions through the unpretentiously clear placement of furniture. In the seating area, all furniture and the custom marble fireplace are of the same, fairly low height. These furniture pieces are surrounded on three sides by tall features – the windows, the dark columns and the floor-to-ceiling oak cabinetry that houses the fireplace. The interplay of height emphasizes the division of the larger space without establishing any real barriers or dividers.
In the seating area, among the Cole-designed modular sofas and the C-shaped coffee table is one of our favorite armchairs, the elegant model 1594 designed in the 1930s by the Danish architect Frits Schlegel (1896-1965) .
The seating area is flanked by two long tables – a white-marble four-seater bar, and a long custom-designed oak dining table seating 10 comfortably. These, in turn, establish two distinctively separate spaces without any barriers.
For the bedrooms, gorgeous hand-woven textiles were sourced from Christina Coles textile studio, The Canvas Showroom she established in Austin, Texas, in 2019. The Canvas Showroom sources fabrics, rugs, furniture and decorative objects from around the world, focusing on hand-woven, hand-crafted pieces.
In the Soho loft, we also love the elegant-retro light fixtures that give the loft a lived-in feel. Unlike so many of the minimalist, New York lofts, this 3,900 square-foot (362 sq. ft) loft does not feel like a showroom for the designer’s talent, and one can in fact imagine real people living in it. Tuija Seipell
Images Lindsay Brown
