This Old Coach House: a century-old house in the Annex that’s as quiet as a cottage

By Lucy Dusko and Peter Saltsman | Photographs by Derek Shapton

The People: Klaus Nienkämper, 43, and Marisa Simunovic, 40, who together run the King East design store Klaus.

The Place: A contemporary coach house in the Annex.

Nienkämper is a connoisseur of quirk. He collects cast iron toys and kitschy cuckoo clocks. He stocks his King East furniture store with doughnut-shaped fruit bowls and lamps inspired by Mickey Mouse. And he’s drawn to unusual homes (he used to live in a former railway conductor’s house in the Annex). The century-old converted coach house he shares with Simunovic and their twins, Oliver and Otto, is only 1,400 square feet, but Nienkämper says that’s more than enough: “In my line of work, you see a lot of enormous homes. You don’t really need that much space.” It helps that the house feels as private as a cottage—it’s backed by an acre of wooded green space.