Brandon Flynn and Jordan Tannahill’s Cinematic East Village Apartment

By Design takes a closer look at the world of design, in moments big and small.

In January 2024, while the Canadian playwright and author Jordan Tannahill and the American actor Brandon Flynn were in Ottawa caring for Tannahill’s sick mother, Flynn was scrolling through some New York listings. Upon spotting a 750-square-foot prewar apartment in the East Village, the couple sent their real estate agent to investigate. He called back to warn them that it wouldn’t stay on the market long. Flynn, who had been renting a place in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, decided to drive 11 hours in a snowstorm to visit the two-bedroom property himself. The pair had a few reservations — the closets were small, the bathroom was outdated — but made an offer anyway. Flynn, 31, who recently played Marlon Brando Off Broadway in “Kowalski,” liked that the top-floor residence was at least big enough for dinner parties, and Tannahill, 36, whose 2021 novel, “The Listeners,” was adapted earlier this year into a BBC series starring Rebecca Hall, loved what he calls the neighborhood’s “extraordinary punk and queer history.”

For the renovations, they chose Noam Dvir, 42, and Daniel Rauchwerger, 37, of the New York-based design studio Bond. A friend had introduced the new homeowners to the firm’s residential projects on Fire Island; like Horace Gifford, the midcentury architect who designed some 60 homes on the island, Dvir and Rauchwerger, who are married, tend to incorporate wood paneling and glass to create serene spaces — with only the occasional burst of color in the form of tiles or Formica counters — that feel quietly seductive. The architects like to ask new clients to supply a handful of reference images; Flynn sent close to 250 pictures of maximalist rooms. “Brandon was like, ‘Oh, thank God you asked,’ and then forwarded the links to all these things he’d been saving for months,” Rauchwerger says.

“I was in love [with the apartment], but I also had a vision for how things could change,” says Flynn, who’d initially wanted to cover every wall with brightly patterned wallpaper. Although they ended up incorporating Flynn’s preferred color scheme — shades of blue and green appear in most rooms — the group agreed on a different style: earthy minimalism, with plywood and red oak to warm up the interiors.

The biggest challenge was reimagining the layout of the railroad apartment, which has a bedroom on either end. Walls were removed to join the dining and living rooms, and the primary bedroom was reduced to about the dimensions of a queen-size bed to accommodate a larger closet. With sapele-wood walls and a built-in desk placed under the window, the room now has a “cabinlike” feel, Tannahill says. In the wall behind the bed, the designers installed a reeded-glass panel, which lets in natural light from the dining room. It’s transparent enough to illuminate the room, but opaque enough for privacy — an effect Rauchwerger describes as “quite cinematic.” In keeping with the building’s Art Deco style, a transom window made from the same textured glass was added above the bedroom door. (When the couple doesn’t have guests, the second bedroom, which includes a custom folding desk, is Tannahill’s office.)

Although the home is subdued, it’s not without emotion. In the bathroom, green tiles cover the soaking tub and walls, creating the illusion, Flynn says, of being in an onsen. The couple, who got married and moved in this past October, also made space for family heirlooms. An oak desk in the living room that belonged to Tannahill’s great-grandmother now holds an assortment of mementos: theater tickets, records, tin toys and a framed thank-you note from Tannahill’s late mother. “I look at this space and I’m excited for the life we’re building,” Flynn says. “It’ll continue to change as we do.”