“As with many Brooklyn renovations, there was a lot of taking things out and saving historic details. In the end, there wasn’t really much left,” says Felix Ade, principal at Brooklyn-based Yun Architecture alongside founder Susan Yun.

From the Alvar Aalto–designed pendants suspended over the dining room table to the birch-leaf motif of the custom plaster crown molding, there’s no mistaking that the studio’s client is a proud Finn—in this case, a proud Finn married to an American. Warmed throughout by custom-designed white oak millwork, the transformed four-story residence is a Nordic-design showcase of sorts. Original vintage pieces by Aalto and Tapio Wirkkala are complemented by furnishings from established and emerging Finnish companies, along with works by artists such as Iria Leino and Uhra-Beata Simberg-Ehrström.

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Adjacent to a formal dining room (1), the kitchen leads to a terrace (top of page) and features a coffee station (2). Photos © Eric Petschek

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The garden- level living/guest quarters has its own small kitchenette. Photo © Eric Petschek

Designed for functionality and outfitted with smart, space-saving storage solutions, the parlor-level kitchen is the epicenter of the home. With an east-facing wall of triple-glazed glass, the daylight-flooded space provides direct access to a rear terrace and the garden below—key for a project that Susan Yun describes as “bringing nature in as much as possible.” Also brightening the room are luminous Italian-marble countertops and backsplashes, paired with stainless-steel fixtures and the white oak cabinetry (fabricated not in Finland but the Bronx). A kitchen island anchors the room, flanked on one side by the range, oven, and refrigerator and on the other by a wall of cabinetry with a dedicated coffee-prep station, complete with its own sink, to accommodate the caffeine-fueled daily Finnish ritual known as kahvitauko. Much like the brownstone itself, which was renovated in pursuit of stringent Passive House certification, the all-electric kitchen appliances contribute to sustainability goals.

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The primary (3) and third-floor (4) bathrooms and sauna (5) balance ample natural lighting and privacy concerns. Photos © Eric Petschek

Between Yun Architecture’s elegant, pared-down approach and the client’s trove of Finnish design objects, it might seem there’s not much room for non-Nordic flourishes. But objects and materials from Japan (and art from South Korea) also play into the mix, with Akari lamps in multiple rooms adding a calming, familiar touch. Particularly pleasing is the split-bamboo-inspired Japanese tilework in the primary and third-floor bathrooms, the latter being illuminated by a rooftop clerestory. Both, naturally, are ideal places to retreat after sweating it out downstairs in the brownstone’s most genuinely Finnish feature.