Cordero Pardee revamps a Ridgewood corner shop into Mr. Nancy’s, a low-carbon dive bar

A time capsule was recently uncovered in Ridgewood, Queens. Abandoned for nearly two decades below the elevated Seneca Avenue station for the M train, the remains of a linear bar and lounge presented a canvas of old-school flourishes ripe for refreshment. The derelict cavern required a polish from bicoastal architecture studio Cordero Pardee (COPA). “Every space in this building smelled like an ashtray. Everything had this layer of nicotine tar on it,” COPA principal Galen Pardee remembered. “As soon as we saw that, it made for a very easy next step.” The space has now been reborn as Mr. Nancy’s, a sleek neighborhood dive bar.

Pardee and fellow principal Manuel Cordero assembled a palette of sustainable alternatives—dubbed low-carbon “twins,” in their vocabulary—to mirror the original 1950s materiality. Recycled clay tiles replace asbestos floors, beadboard walls are traded in for cork, and fiberglass soffits are swapped out for polycarbonate sheeting. Linoleum floors and wallcoverings were installed for uniformity and eco-friendly properties as well. “We really started an obsession with linoleum,” said Pardee. “It’s not a true biomaterial in the same way that mycelium is, but it is biodegradable. It is actually made of industrial reuse in a way already, so it has a fascinating ecological lineage.”