House and Garden: New York City Townhouse

Written by: Lucie Young | Photography by: Ngoc Minh Ngo
[ For the full feature, view slideshow below. ]

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“We drove the neighbors mad,” says Jos White, talking about the three-year renovation of the family’s townhouse on one of the most desirable streets in Manhattan’s West Village. The Whites’ neighbors, Anna Scott Carter and Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair, who live a couple doors away, were among those who experienced the worst of it. The most embarrassing moment, recalls Jos, was when the street had to be closed to crane in hardware for his rooftop office. “I heard one of the other neighbors mutter, ‘Who are these people?’”

Jos is a successful British technology entrepreneur. He and his wife Annabel, the former director of The Rug Company in New York, moved to Manhattan in 2001. After Jos sold his technology company Message Labs for US$695 million in 2008, the couple bought their dream home in the West Village and hired the Carters’ architect, Basil Walter, to do the renovation. The resulting home is an enchanting mix of grand and practical; open plan and intimate; English and American; bright colours and relaxed neutrals.