When Sandra Davis and Bruce Levine bought a garden-level duplex in a 1910 townhouse on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, they knew they’d have to accept its quirks, at least for a while.
“We loved the large garden space, but the apartment itself felt cramped and dark,” said Mr. Levin, noting that the backyard was only accessible through one of the bedrooms. “And the entrance was strangely configured: To get to the apartment we needed to walk up a set of stairs, and back down another set of stairs.”
The couple bought the co-op apartment in 2012 for $1.25 million, “knowing that we needed to renovate it,” said Ms. Davis, the founder of Donorly, a fund-raising consulting company.
As the years passed, the time never seemed right to begin major construction. They were traveling back and forth to Seattle, where Mr. Levine, now 74, is a partner in a law firm. Then Ms. Davis, now 62, started her business. They also were busy raising their family, which included five children from previous marriages, now 22 to 42, as well as grandchildren (they now have five).
“Then the pandemic hit,” Ms. Davis said, and they were suddenly forced to contemplate their surroundings. “When you’re looking at your walls day in, day out, you start to really pay attention to all the things that need to be done.”
