Stephen Sondheim’s Turtle Bay townhouse sells for $7M
All photos courtesy of Compass
Late songsmith Stephen Sondheim’s Turtle Bay townhouse has sold for the asking price of $7,000,000. As first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the unnamed buyer of 246 East 49th Street lives in New York and is a fan of the Broadway legend. The seven-bedroom home hit the market in July and entered contract the following month.
Sondheim bought the 5,700-square-foot home in 1960 and owned the property until his death in 2021 at the age of 91. The home is part of Turtle Bay Gardens, a collection of 20 rowhouses from the 19th century rarely available. The community has been home to E.B. White, Garson Kanin, Robert Gottlieb, Mary-Kate Olsen, and Katharine Hepburn. As Curbed reported, the townhouse afforded Sondheim the privacy needed to compose music.
As the WSJ reports, Sondheim bought the house after writing lyrics for the musicals “West Sid Story” and “Gypsy” in the late 1950s. He rented out the top three floors until 1973 to help pay the mortgage.
The home features a second-floor music studio and library with a wood-burning fireplace and a dramatic solarium with original stained glass windows. The studio opens onto a 30-foot terrace overlooking the gardens.
The primary suite takes up the entirety of the fourth floor, with a fireplace in the bedroom and a windowed bath with both a separate shower and soaking tub. The very top floor features a studio with a setback terrace.
In total, the home has seven bedrooms and three and a half baths.
Another home owned by Sondheim is currently on the market. The composer’s country retreat in Roxbury, Connecticut is available for $3,250,000.
[Listing details: 246 East 49th Street at CityRealty]
[At Compass by Michael J. Franco, Miriam Richards, Greg Holzmann, and Veronica Hinman]
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