William Lescaze’s modernist Upper East Side townhouse is back for a slightly reduced $19.5M
Listing images courtesy of Warburg Realty
In 2013, the New York Times described the William Lescaze townhouse at 32 East 74th Street—one of the first modernist residences built in NYC—as being “just at the edge of passing from worn to shabby, waiting for a new owner to bring it back to flawlessness.” After years of being on and off the market, a new owner came into the picture in 2015, when he bought the property for $14.5 million and transformed it into a three-unit investment property. Lescaze designed the house for Raymond C. and Mildred Kramer in 1934, one year after completing a modernist home for himself at 211 East 48th Street. Both feature his characteristic use of white stucco and glass bricks. The landmarked exteriors have remained intact, but as 6sqft previously noted, the interiors have long shed any trace of Lescaze’s interior design. The transformed property was most recently on the market in 2017 with a $20 million ask and is now back for a slightly reduced $19.5 million.
The home is currently configured as three duplex apartments, each with private keyed elevator access. The lower unit has an open living area on the lower level with private access to the 675-square-foot garden, two bedrooms, and an additional 207-square-foot outdoor terrace on the upper floor.
The middle unit similarly splits up the living and sleeping spaces among the two floors and comes with three bedrooms and three bathrooms. The last duplex holds three bedrooms, including a master suite with a private south-facing patio, and features terraces surrounding the living and dining areas on the fifth floor.
The only remaining traces of Lescaze on the interior are the glass bricks on the upper floors. We don’t know much about his original interior design, but the Times noted a palette of white, gray and beige with built-in furniture throughout. The living room was apparently on the top floor, accessible via elevator.
The upgraded units all have their own washer and dryer, central air, built-in Sonos sound systems, and access to a common roof deck that was installed by the current owner when he reconfigured the property. The listing notes future owners will be able to convert the townhouse back to a single-family residence with eight bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and two powder rooms, as it was originally conceived.
[Listing: 32 East 74th Street by Rowena Dasgupta and Bill Martin of Warburg Realty]
[At CityRealty]
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Listing images courtesy of Warburg Realty
