Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy are moving on from their West Village townhouse, asking $9,750,000 for the home they have lived in for more than a decade.
The Hollywood power couple bought the four-bedroom, four-and-half-bathroom house on Downing Street in Manhattan in 2012, when Ms. Danes, a native New Yorker, was pregnant with their first son. In the years since, they have seen their careers and family grow. They welcomed a second son, and then a daughter. Ms. Danes, who spent nine years starring as Carrie Mathison in the popular television drama “Homeland,” moved on to the critically acclaimed role of Rachel Fleishman in the mini-series “Fleishman is in Trouble,” created by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. Mr. Dancy, a British actor known for his roles in “Black Hawk Down” and the television adaptation of “David Copperfield,” went on to a much-lauded role in the TV series “Hannibal” and an Off Broadway run, opposite Stockard Channing, in the play “Apologia.”
The couple put significant effort into modernizing the interiors of the 1880s Greek Revival house. In an effort led by Joan Krevlin, a founding partner of BKSK Architects, the space was opened and brightened, particularly on the ground floor. Ms. Krevlin, who has long worked with Ms. Danes, rooted her work in the actress’s childhood memories.
“Claire grew up in lofts, and her heart was in loft living,” Ms. Krevlin said. “The home they were choosing to make was a townhouse, intentionally, but there were characteristics of a loft that were very important to her.”
Those characteristics included a feeling of flow between the living and eating spaces, as well as plenty of natural light, regardless of the time of day.
Ms. Krevlin had a unique understanding of the assignment. Throughout the renovation, while Mr. Dancy and Ms. Danes were traveling for work, she lived in the home. “It was very interesting to be in that space and understand where the light was and where it wasn’t, and the proportions of that space,” she said. “I could feel it by living there, and I knew what had to happen.”
Ms. Krevlin’s design had the kitchen moved from the front of the house to the back. A glass wall installed alongside a small side yard can be opened to the outdoors, flooding the kitchen with natural light and allowing residents to eat al fresco without stepping outside. The kitchen ceiling, which serves as a floor to the upstairs terrace, was replaced with glass blocks.
“It’s been incredibly well modernized, while still preserving its original West Village charm,” said Tamer Howard, a licensed real estate saleswoman with Corcoran who is representing Mr. Dancy and Ms. Danes in the sale. “It’s a really happy, romantic, special place.”
Ms. Krevlin employed other creative solutions to maximize space, light and air. The ground-floor foyer doubles as a mudroom, with floor-to-ceiling sliding doors that can open or close off the space. A home office on the same floor has sliding doors that allow it to be concealed.
A wood-and-metal staircase with a woven leather railing leads to the second floor, which contains a den with a fireplace and one of the home’s four bedrooms. On the third floor, there are two bedrooms with en suite bathrooms and custom closets. The full-floor primary bedroom is one more flight up, with an en suite bathroom that has dual vanities, heated floors, a fireplace and claw-foot tub.
The property is crowned by a rooftop terrace with views of One World Trade Center, an outdoor kitchen with an Ooni Koda pizza oven and an electric retractable awning. The house also has a finished basement with a wine cellar and laundry room.
The couple is selling, Ms. Howard said, because they want more space for their three growing children, as well as their extended families, who enjoy visiting. But they don’t plan to go far: Not only will they stay in New York, she said, they also intend to remain downtown.