DesigDesigners turn Renaissance Revival show house into a resplendent home

by MISANI
Special to the AmNews
“When you design a house like this, it just makes it so easy because you’re not trying to make up for the lack of style,” says Jennifer Miles-Lockhart, president of Strategy By Design.
She’s seated on one of 6 matching ultra-blue, suede cutout chairs, around a Bridges dining table (both by Creative Elegance), in the dining room of the newly renovated Striver’s Row townhouse in western Harlem. “The ceilings are perfect. The walls are perfect,” says Miles-Lockhart, one of the team of designers who worked on creating the elegant show house at 262 West 139th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. “You just don’t see this type of work.”


One of several King Model Houses, the 3-story landmark structures that were built by developer David King between 1891 and 1893, the building at 262 West 139th stood as a roofless, windowless shell for 25 years until its purchase in 2016. At 4,200 square feet, the building now includes a duplex rental unit at street level. In addition, there are also 700 square feet of deck space.
Construct A Group, LLC, a New York–based design-build company of high-end commercial and residential properties, did the extensive, 20-month floor-by-floor makeover. The company, which is owned by Mima Susnjar and his designer wife, Victoria Grujicic, collaborated with Everick Brown of EB Home, Raunjiba (outdoor furniture), Miles-Lockhart, and Uptown Magazine on the show house, which was opened to the public last weekend.
“When they decided they wanted to do an Uptown show house for Uptown Magazine, Everick Brown was called to furnish the show house,” shares Miles-Lockhart, referring to the lead designer of the project. Brown, who provided all the furniture for the show house, is the owner of a fine home furnishings store that offers an eclectic array of accessories, lighting, eastern antiques and unique gifts for all occasions.
“Everick said, ‘I have the furniture, but you need to call Jennifer Miles; that’s what she does,’ So Rick called me and they flew me up here to style and pick furnishings from Rick’s store and to work with Rick,” Miles Lockhart states.
Born and raised in Harlem, Miles-Lockhart had relocated from Harlem to the Bahamas about a year and a half ago to marry the international film and stage actor, Calvin Lockhart, who was born in the Bahamas. The couple had met and fallen in love 27 years earlier, but then had gone their separate ways. The newly-weds had only been together for a short time, when on March 29, the 72-year old Lockhart died from complications of a stroke.
Rick’s timing was perfect to afford Miles-Lockhart a brief breather from the Bahamas, by keeping her busy in New York working on something she enjoyed. “My passion is art and design,” reveals the designer, who had a career in construction management and designing at CitiBank and other corporations before going to work at Abyssinian Development, where she worked on house rehabs.
“Most of the furniture in here and the placement and selection is Rick’s, and then I came by and I said, “Well we need this, and we need to do this, because these go with these chairs. Placement of accessories and things like that was my part; I worked with Rick to select the right pieces and stylize the rooms with bedding, flowers, accessories.”
The property’s design and facilities include 6 to 7 bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms (4 finished in a limestone and the master bath, which is finished in Italian Thassos, plus a first-floor powder room replete with a custom cathedral ceiling), and 2 full kitchens complete with granite counters and marble backsplashes. In addition, this state-of-the-art “smart house” is completely wired to control the security, audio, thermostat, and lighting systems from touch screen panels. A private parking garage is also an enticing part of the package, as well as 3 stone decks.
The first floor includes an entry, dining area and living room, while on the second floor the master bedroom and master office take center stage. A guest bedroom and children’s bed/playroom completes the third floor. The furnishings, accessories and artwork displayed throughout the house all came from a group of other presenting partners that include the Studio Museum in Harlem, Michael Rosenfeld Galleries LLC, Grandma’s Place, Dialogica-NY, Peg Alston Fine Art, Flou, Classic Rug Collection, Inc. and Harlem Flo – floral atelier.
Miles-Lockhart has returned to the Bahamas, but will be back in New York in the fall for the downtown designers show house. “It is the brainchild of Marcy Clark of Yellow Sky Agency,” she shares. “She wanted to do a show house so she was told to contact me. I have put together a full plan and I am partnering with Marcy and Vicky Baron of Prudential Douglas Elliman to bring the 1st Annual Downtown Designer Show House.”
In the meantime, if you are in the market for a marvelous, one-of-a kind Strivers Row house, and you have the asking price of $4,200,000, please call Stephen Robb at 914-837-4022. The Striver’s Row townhouse is one that you will love coming home to in Harlem.