It’s easy to feel like good fortune is on your side when a worthwhile place flies surprisingly under the radar. After architect Nicholas G. Potts and National Gallery of Art curator Aaron Wile decided to move to Washington, D.C., they came across the Kalorama Heights neighborhood and were drawn to its understated charms . “It’s a mostly residential neighborhood,” Aaron says. “It’s just west of Adams Morgan and close to downtown, where a lot of ambassadors and former presidents live. For whatever reason, the rental maps overlooked it.”

Nicholas G. Potts (left) and Aaron Wile in their Washington, D.C., home.

Their apartment was the only one available in the area when they found it, so they took it as a sign that this was where they’d get their bearings in the city in the fall of 2019. “We were looking for a temporary apartment before we found something to renovate,” Nicholas says. “But as we started to look around, we realized that inventory was low and most homes had already been updated in some way.” They bided their time, settling into a quiet Beaux Arts co-op with a little more than a dozen units, when their neighbor got in touch with some fortuitous news. She was selling her mother’s apartment in the building and asked if they’d be interested in it. The home happened to be directly above theirs.

“Since we had been living in the apartment downstairs for a few months, we had an idea of the layout before even stepping inside,” Nicholas remembers. “Then when we saw it, we realized that it hadn’t been touched in decades. We knew we’d have to take it down to the studs and build it back in a way that respected what was there before.”

BEFORE: Because they lived downstairs, they had a general idea of this apartment’s layout before setting foot inside. They stayed in their original apartment during construction, which was convenient for storing materials and keeping an eye on progress.

AFTER: A Le Corbusier sofa designed with Charlotte Perriand and Pierre Jeanneret for Cassina sits in the living room, alongside a Herman Miller coffee table and lounge chair. An antique carpet from Frances Loom covers the floor.