Contemporary artist buys ‘Aaron Burr House’ in the West Village for $4.8M
Back in 2016, a row house in the West Village that was once owned by third U.S. vice president and famous duel participant Aaron Burr arrived on the market for $5.75 million. The Federal-style brick home at 17 Commerce Street–a fittingly historic block consisting of land that Burr owned just north of his country estate during the turn of the 18th century–has finally sold, to American painter and printmaker Walton Ford, Mansion Global reports, for $4.8 million.
Burr, who was Vice President under Thomas Jefferson, started buying land in what is now the West Village in 1794. His estate, known as Richmond Hill, was centered around Bedford and Downing Streets. He also owned a carriage house at 11 Barrow Street, which is today home to the restaurant One If By Land, Two If By Sea (said to be haunted by his ghost). At the time, the quaint L-shaped street was known as Cherry Lane (hence the aptly named Cherry Lane Theater).
The house at 17 Commerce has a historic plaque on its facade that reads “Aaron Burr House 1802;” it was built just two years before he killed Hamilton in their infamous duel.
The original home was torn down and rebuilt in 1830 by stonecutter Abraham Bogert. It retains its original stoop ironwork with pineapple-shaped finials, as well as the historic stone lintels, Flemish bond facade, mantles on four fireplaces, moldings, and pinewood floors. It has a lovely private garden, study, guest room, and two main bedrooms, one of which has a sloped ceiling behind the dormer windows.
The home last sold in 2013 for $1.28 million, and the new owner was counting on getting some mileage from the current “Hamilton” frenzy. “We are definitely looking at the ‘Hamilton’ angle. People who are history buffs and who love the play will fall in love with the house,” said listing agent Bernice Leventhal when the home was listed. And though the house didn’t achieve its original ask, it certainly added up to a tidy profit.
[Listing: 17 Commerce Street by Bernice Leventhal and Sarah Thompson of the Corcoran Group]
[Via Mansion Global]
RELATED:
- Former Home of Alexander Hamilton Jr. on St. Mark’s Place Sells for $10M
- Upstate home built in 1730 by a Revolutionary War captain asks $1.25M
- Live in Eleanor Roosevelt’s Historic Townhouse for $18M
Images courtesy of Corcoran Group.
