The 2026 NY Kips Bay Decorator Show House Brings Cutting-Edge Interior Design to a Historic Greenwich Village Townhouse
by David Hay
September 2026
The New York Kips Bay Decorator Show House opened Tuesday, September 15, for its 51st celebration of contemporary interior design, and this year’s location — a Georgian red-brick townhouse at 80 West Washington Place in Greenwich Village — provides a vintage canvas for the 22 design studios chosen to decorate the interior and exterior spaces.
“The moment we walked in, we knew it had something special,” said Nazira Handal, Director of Special Events & Corporate Partnerships for the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, which has been the sponsor and beneficiary of the annual exhibition since 1973.
Dating back to 1839, the townhouse was previously home to renowned American composer John Philip Sousa and more recently by Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott. The six-bedroom, seven-and-a-half-bathroom home features approximately 8,757 square feet of interior living space across six floors. Four landscaped terraces add another 1,566 square feet of exterior space. The home’s restoration has preserved its historic architecture and features.
As it happens, 80 West Washington Place is currently listed at $23.5 million with Douglas Elliman agent Melissa Olson.
“It’s incredibly exciting to see a home with nearly two centuries of architectural and cultural history enter its next chapter through the vision of these world-class designers," Olson said. "80 Washington Place has been home to some of New York’s most influential creative figures, and it’s a privilege to represent such a rare and meaningful piece of Greenwich Village history.”
Having overseen the Decorator Show House series for more than a decade, Handal noted that this year’s location offers a compelling contrast to the cutting-edge design on display from such studios as Bilotta Kitchen and Home, Carrier and Company, Eve Jean Interiors, KKB Interiors, Marmol Radziner, Robbins Architecture and Interiors and TORREY.
“Eighty percent of those being showcased are first timers,” she told me. “The strong sense of history and identity [of this location] adds some challenges for designers, so we were excited to see how they would interpret those existing details and create a dialogue between the character of this home and their own distinct points of view.”
Among those first-time designers chosen to meet that challenge John Ferguson.
“I’ve hardly slept in three months,” he told me when we met at 80 West Washington Place in the weeks before the show’s opening.
In addition to the large, nearly square fourth-floor room with a terrace immediately outside its floor-to-ceiling window, Ferguson had been assigned the long corridor that leads to it. Understated, English and a graduate from FIT, he had always dreamed of being in this event but confessed that he never thought he was ready. The selection committee clearly believed otherwise.
“In January, a large job I did in Williamsburg was featured on the cover of Luxe,” he said. “But my work’s never had exposure like this.”
As with everyone chosen to be in this year’s show, Ferguson went all out. His unique vision is immediately evident walking down the entrance corridor. One side is lined with a wallcovering for which he chose a Thai workshop known for weaving textiles from metal yarns. The woven metal was applied over a dimensional wood structure before molten steel was introduced to the surface, creating unexpected washes of blue, red and bronze that you marvel at as you walk by. The mirrored wall on the opposite side makes for a stunning entrance.
This attention to detail and choice of very original supplier extends to the custom mosaic tile — in green, white and ochre marble arranged in a repeating geometric pattern — which Ferguson used to cover the floor on the outside terrace. Likewise, the custom wall-to-wall carpet features a rich red ground of silk and wool crossed by pewter metallic yarns, which catch the light as you move through the room.
Above, designers John Ferguson and Nicole Fisher.
When another young designer, Nicole Fisher, found out she had been given the rooftop terrace, she quickly grasped the opportunity in being assigned such an expansive exterior space. It was already unique. She knew she could make it more so.
“I set out to create a destination that had a members-only-lounge type of a vibe,” Fisher told me. She called it “After Seven.”
Of course there were practical challenges. The terrace, its circular bar and counter stools with leopard-print cushions will be open to the elements for the four weeks the show is open. But again, Fisher saw a chance to shine, selecting fabrics from Kravet and Holly Hunt that were both refined enough to serve indoors and weather-proof.
“It’s a really pivotal moment for me and my career,” she told me. “An opportunity to show what I can do — even in unusual circumstances!”
When I toured the Show House prior to its official opening, it was hard not to get caught up in the excitement. With its multiple stories and winding staircase leading to Fisher’s “After Seven” rooftop, the location creates a club-like atmosphere of serendipity, where people run into one another and talk.
All by design, says Handal.
“For more than five decades, the Kips Bay Decorator Show House has been a place where the design community comes together,” she said. “That feels particularly meaningful in New York, which is one of the world’s great design capitals, but where these sorts of conversations don’t often happen. People are so busy for one thing. This year we are changing that. This show encourages conversations and interaction.”
Handal hopes these interactions will focus on craftsmanship, innovation and the process of creating spaces that feel personal rather than simply beautiful. I can confirm there’s a lot to talk about.
David Hay is a well-known architectural writer and playwright. His stories have been featured in The New York Times, Dwell and New York.
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