$12M Chelsea Townhouse Has a 30-Foot Saltwater Pool in the Living Room and a Two-Story Waterfall

This week brings another superlatively funky dream home, both totally unique and impossible to sell on a grand scale, both getting a thorough market-friendly renovation. This particular property has been in and out of the media spotlight for the past decade and with reason. A five-story historic townhouse in Chelsea has plenty of dream house potential to begin with, but the house at 232 West 15th Street also has a 30-foot long, eight-foot deep heated saltwater pool (in the living room) under a two-story solarium. Also, a cascading waterfall. Also a poolside wet bar, self-irrigated planters and seven fireplaces (six wood-burning and one ethanol) and a roof deck with an outdoor shower. And two top-floor two-bedroom apartments ready to rent if you don’t need the entire 4,800 square feet.

Though the home has been freshly re-imagined as a sleek, contemporary vision in white, pale wood and glass, part of the fascination has been with the fabulously eclectic interiors that its current owner’s family maintained, where turtles swam in the pool and a suit of armor looked on.

Photo: CORE

As far as we can tell the current owner is still Evelyn McMurray (in connection with an LLC, The Pool House), who inherited the home when her brother, a bachelor who had thrown many a memorable party in the space, passed away in 1995. As you can imagine, the home has been no easy thing to maintain, and has been on and off the market since 2008, when it was listed for $11M.

In its newly-listed $11.995 million incarnation, the 22-and-a-half-foot wide Greek Revival townhouse has been renovated from stem to stern, with photos so slick we’re not exactly sure to what degree they’ve been enhanced. The listing says “no expense has been spared,” and though we’re sure the renovation cost a pretty penny, we doubt it could rival the original installations done by the previous owners in 1975.

Behind the home’s historic brick façade–you would never guess there was a massive swimming pool on the garden floor–is a totally modern residence comprised of a triplex topped by two floor-through apartments.

Let’s start with the pool. The 30-foot long, eight-foot deep heated saltwater pool immediately alleviates past fears that the whole house would smell like chlorine. On this level there’s a sauna and a poolside wet bar with a giant wine fridge.

The dramatic waterfall is…something you really don’t see in too many townhouses.

The entire back wall is a glass-encased solarium.

Just outside is a landscaped, self-irrigating party-ready back yard/patio with a self-timed lighting system.

A pale wood floating staircase ascends to the parlor level, where you’ll find the main kitchen, boasting top-of-the-line appliances and amazing views of the garden through glass and steel.

The same sleek simplicity can be seen throughout, in the (two, possibly three or four) bedrooms on the top floor of the triplex.

Another highlight is the deep free-standing tub in the master bath, alongside a live moss wall. Bathrooms in general are high-end, high-tech and gadget-filled.

The upstairs apartments were given the same fine treatment. The penthouse features a massive skylight and open city views. The top floor also lays claim to the roof deck atop this wonderland of a Chelsea townhouse; this impressive outdoor oasis boasts more self-irrigating planters, a storage pantry and more open city views.

[Listing: 232 West 15th Street #H1 by Christopher Clowdus and James Hegyi for Cooper & Cooper Real Estate.]

[Via CityRealty]

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Images courtesy of Cooper & Cooper Real Estate.