Originally built in 1930, the Brooklyn Flats are a bit of an icon to those familiar with the cluster of historic buildings on central Auckland’s Emily Place. Paying respect to its original era, architect Ben Lloyd of firm Lloyd Hartley was careful to employ harmonious materials and fittings when giving his own apartment within the heritage flats a complete do-over. Treating the floors to French oak herringbone parquet, along with a new lacquer kitchen with recessed handles, brass toe kicks and integrated appliances to keep aesthetic disruption to a minimum, the space still bears all the hallmarks of the building’s original style, albeit with a slick sense of modernism.