from the Dwell Magazine article:

The house was originally built in 1904 by David Kaufman, a Jewish tailor and merchant who owned twelve acres that would later be platted as the Kaufman Addition. For decades, the home served as a single-family residence with details such as deep front window seats and a bronze figurine holding a torch on the staircase newel post. From the 1950s onward, the building underwent a succession of changes, becoming an elderly care center, a Buddhist retreat and bookstore, and finally, a series of individual rooms for rent, with every door besides the kitchen fitted with a lock. 

"Even through all those interruptions, there was a grandeur and a scale that was really obvious in it," says Matthew. After purchasing the property, they reached out to friend and architect Ian Butcher, founding partner of Best Practice Architecture, for a collaborative remodel.

The end result is a home rich in history—but it’s worn on the 120-year-old bones rather lightly. "When we finished the demolition and realized we had just taken literally five tons of debris away from the structure, Ian said it was like the old house had a chance to breathe again, a chance to stretch and shake and sort of roll its shoulders," says Matthew. "We tried really hard throughout the rest of the project not to weigh it down again, to let it remain in that kind of weightlessness."