“Opening this practice let me create exactly what I’d create for my own family,” says Dr. Tiffany Otto Knipe, whose Washington Market Pediatrics has debuted in the space that was formerly Moomah. Knipe, who has lived in Tribeca for eight years now, has two sons at Washington Market School (and yes, she cleared the name with the school). “My five year-old remembers when it was Moomah,” she says. “As we built the office out, he was talking about what should go where and helping with the painting.”

Her three year-old, meanwhile, hates going to the doctor. “He hates it! So I asked myself, How can I get my own kid engaged?” That means each of the four exam rooms have a theme—outer space, ocean, dinosaurs, and safari—a kids’ doctor kit, and theme-appropriate toys and puzzles. Her sons also came up with the idea of a treasure box that patients get to visit when they’re done: It has tokens that they can use at gumball-style machines. Knipe credits designer Diana Mui with decor that’s fun for kids without aggravating parents’ princess-and-superhero fatigue.

The exam rooms are along a hallway covered in framed kids’ artwork as “a way to honor the moms and friends in the neighborhood who have been so supportive.” At the front of the office is a stylish waiting area that Knipe says is small because she plans on having relatively few patients, the better to offer longer appointments. “Most of the time, when kids come to the doctor, they’re healthy. The visit is an opportunity to teach them about their bodies and health. I want to engage them, let them ask questions.”

In the rear is a large room where expectant mother groups will meet starting this spring. There will also be monthly wine-and-cheese events with speakers on topics such as kids’ health. “They’re open to everyone—not just our patients,” says Knipe. “The goal is to make it a community space.” Fans of Moomah will be pleased that the child-size door inset in the main door has been preserved.

Last but not least, the office also has five pediatric nurses on staff, all from NewYork-Presbyterian hospitals, and an in-house lab for many common tests.

Knipe, who before opening Washington Market Pediatrics was working with a local practice for about a year, studied medicine at Jefferson Medical College, and then did her pediatric residency at Cornell/NewYork-Presbyterian and a three-year fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at Yale and N.Y.U. Langone Medical Center. “I want to be an old-school country doctor,” she says, “but with the medicine and sophistication of New York City in 2015.”

Washington Market Pediatrics is at 161 Hudson (between Laight and Hubert), 917-388-2611; washingtonmarketpediatrics.com.

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