Be Woody Allen’s Neighbor for $80K a Month in This Historic Upper East Side Townhouse
Trophy purchase, short-term refuge, or family home? Take your pick. This impressive and unique townhouse at 116 East 70th Street was previously owned by philanthropist George Soros’s ex, Susan Weber Soros, who bought the 5,688-square-foot home in 2012 for $22.5 million and proceeded to see it through a thorough renovation, updating infrastructure and interiors and installing every 21st-century comfort known to stratospherically-priced townhouse-owning man (or woman, as the case was).
Post-renovation, the barrel-fronted, copper-clad townhouse changed hands in an off-market deal to an anonymous LLC for $31 million. The house was back on the market again for $33 million last February after only four months. With its price pared down to $28 million, it’s still seeking a buyer, but is now having a go at the rental market, too. The stunning single-family manse–all five floors of it–is being offered for $80,000 a month, which comes with the caché of calling Woody Allen your next-door neighbor.
The most recent listing exaggerates little in saying that, “116 East 70th Street is truly one of the finest single family mansions on the market in New York City today.” On one of the Upper East Side’s most elegant townhouse blocks (more about those neighbors later), this 20-foot-wide 1869 townhouse is immediately recognizable by its architecturally distinct façade with “a two-story elliptical bay supported by six stately fluted columns and a lovely 12-foot deep entry forecourt.” There’s a 27-foot-deep back garden and two terraces. And an elevator!
The home’s garden level starts with a 32-foot gallery and a sitting room and progresses to a chef-ready kitchen with radiant heat flooring and appliances by Gaggenau and Miele. A glass-wrapped breakfast nook opens to the garden.
On a parlor floor with 12.6-foot-high ceilings, a perfectly gorgeous living room with a wood-burning fireplace overlooks 70th Street through those copper-clad bay windows. A chic and elegant dining room opens onto a terrace.
The third floor library, also fronted by that dramatic bay window, offers another wood-burning fireplace, a powder room, and a wet bar.
The master bedroom, vast en-suite bath and nearly-15-foot-long dressing room are on this floor as well.
On the fourth floor you’ll find two more bedrooms with en-suite baths; one has yet another terrace that overlooks the garden, perfect for a nightcap or a morning weather-check.
On the fifth floor (did we mention there’s an elevator?) is a big, bright, loft-like media room with a skylight, wood-burning fireplace, and original pine floors. Two more bedrooms are up here, and there’s roof access. In the cellar are storage, a half bath, double washing machines and dryers and a cedar closet.
The iconic and historic townhouse block of 70th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues boasts the work of several renowned architects and a notable neighbor or two, including the 40-foot-wide Paul Mellon house, the 1941 modernist William Lescaze-designed Norman residence at 124, and, of course, Woody Allen’s house–featured in Architectural Digest in 2008–next door at 118; that astounding rental price tag seems to be the going rate for massive townhouses in the area–there are several for rent nearby at that price or close to it.
[Listing: 116 East 70th Street by Sabrina Saltiel and Jennine Gourin for Douglas Elliman]
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Images courtesy of Douglas Elliman
