Downtown Living by Walker Architects
Downtown Living unites two mid-rise apartments in Boston, MA, United States, by Walker Architects into a single elevated home oriented to a sweeping city panorama. The clients—downtown academics—kept their original residence and added an adjacent unit for relaxed gathering, games, and study. The result ties modern simplicity to rich material comfort, from paneled arrival to a long living room anchored by stone and steel, with new finishes extended across the public rooms.
Warm light washes across white plaster as the elevator doors open to a paneled hall. The city stretches from the State House dome to riverfront campuses in a single westward sweep.
This apartment is a combined home in a Boston mid-rise, reworked by Walker Architects for clients who value view and material clarity. The project centers on a long living room and a new suite for gathering, where a restrained palette carries from arrival to hearth to bar.
Frame the View
A 45-foot living room runs parallel to the skyline, with the sightline held by a plane of warm brown marble incised by a matte black steel fireplace. The horizontal fire band echoes daily western sunsets, reading as a measured glow rather than spectacle. Seating clusters face the hearth and the glass, letting conversation pivot between flame and horizon. Quiet surfaces do the rest.
Pour and Gather
Near the fireplace, a white marble, pattern-matched table becomes the pour point for evenings shaped around wine and talk. Behind it, bottles stand in a conditioned display lined with the same marble cut thin and backlit for depth—stone reads like veined parchment under light. Flanking the cellar wall, paired dark bolivar cabinets hide serveries with concealed refrigeration and dishwashers, so service stays discreet and the room stays clear.
Arrive With Green
The entry hall is newly paneled, with concealed closets keeping coats and gear out of sight. A vegetated wall faces the front door, a soft counterpoint to the apartment’s crisp geometry and a hint of outdoors before the city panorama takes over. From this threshold, new finishes extend through the public rooms, tying the merged layout together with one steady material chord.
Play and Study
The added unit leans into leisure: billiards and darts set the tone, while a seating area centers on the same stone-and-steel language for continuity. An adjacent study doubles as guest quarters when needed, its door close at hand to a refined bath. Everyday living stays relaxed; entertaining scales up without strain.
Quiet Bath, Clean Lines
The guest bath, a calm study in grey and white, uses frameless glass and concealed ribbons of light to keep edges minimal. Super-thin washbasins are carved into a floating quartzite ledge, so volumes read light and precise. Surfaces meet without trim, the joints crisp and steady.
White plaster walls run throughout without baseboards, letting planes meet in clean reveals—materials do the talking. Underfoot, richly stained oak ties rooms together and tempers the cool of marble and steel. The city continues to pulse beyond the glass, but inside the cadence is measured and warm.
Photography courtesy of Walker Architects
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