Billionaire Carlos Slim Looks to Break Record for Priciest Townhouse Ever Sold with $80M Ask

Carlos Slim, Mexican business magnate and former world’s richest person, is looking to break the record for most expensive townhouse ever sold in NYC. As the Daily News first reported, he’s listed his Upper East Side Beaux Arts mansion at 1009 Fifth Avenue for $80 million, after buying it for only $44 million five years ago from Russian oil mogul Tamir Sapir.

Built in 1901, the limestone-and-red-brick home is known as the Duke-Semans Mansion and is one of the last remaining private homes on Fifth Avenue. It’s located directly across from the Met, rises eight stories, and encompasses a whopping 20,000 square feet. According to the listing, the French Renaissance interiors “feature soaring ceilings, hand-carved wood paneling, lovely trompe l’oeil accents, gold-leaf trimmed fixtures and intricate plaster friezes.”

Though interior pictures haven’t been released, there’s plenty to ogle on the facade alone. The lower limestone floor is highlighted by the grand entrance with a wrought-iron marquee. The red-brick upper floors boast limestone ornamentation and curvilinear bays. The roof stands out with its highly decorated cornice and two towers adorned in copper.

Inside, as the listing gushes, “the absolutely stunning sweeping staircase ascends five stories and is punctuated by vast windowed landings while the wonderful and sun dappled corner rooms to the west are perfectly balanced by the slightly larger complement of rooms to the east. The top floors of the house also incorporate a dramatic skylight and are accessed by a separate staircase.” And here’s a fun fact–when the house was constructed, all of the closets were installed in the same spot on each floor to accommodate an elevator in the future.

If the residence fetches its asking price, it will beat out the current record holder for priciest townhouse, the Harkness Mansion at 4 East 75th Street, which sold for $53 million in 2006 (and interestingly sold again in 2011 for only $36.5 million).

[Listing: 1009 Fifth Avenue by Serena Boardman of Sotheby’s International Realty]

[Via NYDN]

Photos via Sotheby’s International Realty

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