$7.9M Village townhouse was the home of civil rights lawyer William Kunstler
Photo courtesy of Brown Harris Stevens
This landmarked brick row house at 13 Gay Street in Greenwich Village was once the home and office of noted American civil rights attorneys William Kunstler and Margaret Ratner Kunstler. Best known for defending the Chicago Seven, William Kunstler’s client roster included Malcolm X, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and the Attica prison rioters among many others. Now asking $7,900,000, the four-story single-family Greek Revival townhouse was built in 1844. Two garden floor spaces are zoned for live/work.
An entrance under the stoop leads to what once was–and could be again–the aforementioned law office. The home is a diminutive (for a townhouse) 2,660 square feet, but it has been updated and is move-in ready, while retaining historic details, like wide-plank floors and six fireplaces, behind its brick and brownstone facade.
An open parlor floor leads to a modern kitchen that incorporates 19th-century details like a Viking range set into the original hearth. At the back, floor-to-ceiling glass doors open onto a deck and bluestone-paved garden below.
Large, sunny bedrooms on the upper floors have built-in shelving. The second-floor landing opens onto a lovely little patio that overlooks the rear garden.
A full cellar houses the home’s mechanicals and leaves room for storage. The home sits on a gently curving Village lane that may be one of New York City’s prettiest.
[Listing details: 13 Gay Street at CityRealty]
[At Brown Harris Stevens by Joan Goldberg]
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Photos courtesy of Brown Harris Stevens
