Profile

In 1999, partners Jonathan Burden and Benjamin Izett gutted a former dairy-storage warehouse in Tribeca and filled it with English, German, French, Italian, and Chinese furniture from the 17th through 20th centuries. Today, Burden, who began studying furniture conservation at age 15 in his native Britain, takes pride in rivaling the best shops along England's famed Pimlico Road—a bustling design district—but also in having a more adventuresome eye. The spacious main floor, made of rough-hewn floorboards and slate-gray walls, is meticulously arranged with pieces culled from auction houses and Burden's own travels around the world, from London to India. Notable finds have included a 19th-century Indian Rosewood wardrobe, with a door flanked by high-relief carvings of stylized lions, birds and vines and fruit; a Neo-Classical coffee table with a marble top mounted on a patinated steel base; and a pair of English oak library chairs. Downstairs, seven restorers keep busy in a private workshop, repairing antiques from around the world. — Bree Sposato