Glamorous Yorkville penthouse once home to Irving Berlin lists for $7.9M
Growing up at the turn of the century on the Lower East Side, which was then home to the Yiddish Rialto (the largest Yiddish theater in the world at the time), is how legendary Hollywood songwriter Irving Berlin was first exposed to music and theater. But later in life, he moved his family uptown, first to Sutton Place and then to 130 East End Avenue, an Emory Roth-designed co-op in Yorkville right across from Carl Schurz Park. He lived in the penthouse duplex, which biographer Laurence Bergreen described as “a formal, stately dwelling with impressive views of the East River,” from 1931 to 1944. Now, the still-stately and “One of a Kind” home has just hit the market for $7.9 million.
Bergreen noted that the apartment was more the taste of Irving’s wife Ellin and that “there was nothing showbizzy about the place; the antiques and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves quietly suggested the home of wealthy, cultivated businessman possessed of exacting, if severe, taste.”
The current listing describes the “gracious entry with circular staircase” that opens to the 28-foot corner living room. Here, five oversized windows provide river, park, and bridge views, and there’s also a wood-burning fireplace.
The formal dining room and adjoining sunroom open onto the huge, wrap-around terrace. On this lower level, there’s also a maid’s room and kitchen.
Upstairs are the master bedroom and second bedroom or sitting room, as well as two bathrooms and a bright study that leads to an even larger roof terrace.
[Listing: 130 East End Avenue, Apt. PHA by Jane R. Andrews of Warburg]
[At CityRealty]
Images courtesy of Warburg
