Back in the 1850s, Walt Whitman and his literary cronies presided over Pfaff’s Beer Cellar on lower Broadway, one of Greenwich Village’s first established bohemian hangouts, for food, drink, and conversation. Although the neighborhood has undergone myriad transformations since, the lively watering hole Charles Pfaff first opened in 1855 lives on through the Vault at Pfaff’s, a modern incarnation of the bar, tucked beneath Broadway and Bleecker Street.

Elements of this rich past, explains New York City-based architect and interior designer Mark Zeff, who oversaw the restoration of the Vault at Pfaff’s, certainly influenced the patina and color scheme for the space, but “it feels current and something of now.”

In this subterranean bar, staff circulate in Christian Siriano-designed uniforms (long-tailed jackets, corsets, and bloomers for the ladies; burgundy and velvet for the gents) that pay homage to the era of Whitman while guests pore over newsprint menus resembling the vintage Saturday Press, perhaps perched on a red leather loveseat, its back comprised of a glamorous nude portrait calling to mind 19th century saloon car murals.

While designing the space, Zeff was fortunate to uncover several architectural treasures, including vaults, granite ceilings, and brick archways. “We restored the interior covered by previous iterations. We literally went and took all of it out,” Zeff points out.

One way of updating “a brutish speakeasy from that period,” notes Zeff, is through the introduction of elegant materials. Consider the bar-discovered in Pennsylvania, crafted from 450-year-old white oak, and outfitted with striking hardware-that Zeff deems the centerpiece of the Vault at Pfaff’s. “We hand-painted the mirror so it felt like there was an old mural, very indirectly using art to illuminate the place. We built the bar into the space, and added beautiful storage cabinets [dotted with authentic bullet casings] to either side,” he says. “You wouldn’t know if it is old or new.”