Up and Down Brownstone

Brownstone With a Secret Side

The moving facade of 224 E. 14th St. creates an open air living room.

The building at 224 E. 14th St. looks like any other on the block, but a section of the brownstone-finished facade folds into Mr. Peterson's apartment to create an open-air living room.

"Originally in an old brownstone there would have been a parlor-floor balcony," Mr. Peterson said of the retractable living-room wall. "This is reimagining it."

To create the mechanics behind the wall, which opens and closes like a garage door, Mr. Peterson worked with McLaren Engineering Group, an engineering team that has done sets for Cirque du Soleil. When the facade opens, "It looks like the building's falling in on itself," he said.

Mr. Peterson said he started working on the East Village building with a business partner in 2005 and came up with the idea for the moving facade. He completed his purchase of the his condo on the first two floors and part of the basement in 2008 for $1.8 million, according to property records.

To ensure the building looked like an old brownstone from the outside, Mr. Peterson took a thin layer of real brownstone and attached it to light aluminum honeycomb. With the technique, the facade looks and feels like a traditional brownstone building, but it is also able to move.

Architect Bill Peterson re-imagined the iconic New York City brownstone when creating this East Village condo. At first glance it looks like any other building on the block, but its brownstone-finished front façade folds up into the apartment to create an open-air living room.

Mr. Peterson kept the interior of the building very raw with exposed brick and hand-trowled floors. The porcelain used throughout the condo is another nod to the original brownstone that once stood in the lot.

The condo also showcases many references to East Village culture. In the living room there is a large framed photograph of Patti Smith and in the bedroom there is a framed vintage T-shirt worn by bartenders at Fillmore East, a legendary music venue in the East Village.

In order to provide even more open-air space, Mr. Peterson also created a garage-door like windowed back wall between the kitchen and the backyard.

Mr. Peterson, who lives elsewhere in the East Village, said he is plans to sell the condo and move on to other projects.

The one-bedroom, 2½-bathroom apartment is listed by Corcoran Group for $2.499 million.

Please click the link to see the slideshow on WSJ.com