introducing: the clé townhouse

clé and OUTERclé have gone bicoastal. california will always be cool, but new york is, well, new york. tucked within turtle bay gardens, one of the city’s hidden residential enclaves, is the new clé townhouse and gardens. an ever-evolving expression of the clé world, it is a place to explore how tile lives beyond the box.

about the townhouse

the clé townhouse unfolds as an intimate, design-forward immersion in the brand’s material world — part showroom, part working studio, and part living archive. conceived as a tactile showcase rather than a traditional display space, the townhouse brings clé’s historically rooted surfaces to life through real-world applications, revealing how each tile is fabricated, specified, and installed—and how the materials interact.

guided by clé founder deborah osburn, the experience reflects clé’s deeply hands-on ethos and close relationships with artisans around the world. it also offers a firsthand look at forthcoming collections and the creative direction ahead.

equally evocative are the gardens. conceived as a working studio for OUTERclé, osburn’s garden feels connected to the neighboring residences and historic communal garden: graceful, masterful, and formal, yet imbued with modernity, wit, and unexpected allure.

within this creative environment, deborah osburn continues a century-long tradition of female-led preservation. the townhouse is more than a home; it is the east coast studio and creative headquarters of clé and OUTERclé — and, like the brands themselves, an extension of her singular creative vision.

“i want to honor charlotte hunnewell’s legacy – her pioneering spirit, her love of art and culture, and the city of new york – by celebrating the spirit of her home, and bringing it into the present.”
— deborah osburn

history and legacy

formerly known as the hunnewell mansion, the townhouse is the architectural heart of turtle bay gardens, a visionary enclave established by charlotte hunnewell in the early 1900s. seeking to bring european sophistication to manhattan, hunnewell merged two 1899 townhouses into a singular 8,700-square-foot masterpiece.

the five-story residence—defined by its regency-style façade, flemish gables, and grand ballroom—remains the pinnacle of her vision. beyond its soaring coffered ceilings and marble fireplaces lies the enclave’s most storied feature: a private 38-foot garden that opens onto a “secret” communal park shared only by residents of this historic sanctuary.

the legacy of turtle bay is woven into the fabric of american culture. for decades, the enclave has served as a refuge for icons including bob dylan, katharine hepburn, and stephen sondheim. its influence is immortalized in literature as well: e. b. white drew inspiration from hunnewell herself when naming the titular character of charlotte’s web.

who knows where its next century will lead.