Upper East Side

Talk about a selling point: This apartment, located in the Upper East Side co-op building 820 Park Avenue, has been personally redesigned by starchitect Robert A.M. Stern. He is well known for his project on the other side of the park, 15 Central Park West, where he designed a condo reminiscent of the historic co-op towers along the park. Here, he's taken a prewar co-op, which fills up the entire 12th floor, and added some modern luxury perks. The apartment itself has an interesting history; it was originally configured as a triplex for the building's owner, and was then owned by pharmaceutical giant Cheng Ching Wang, the late father of Vera Wang. Serena and David Steinberg (she's the daughter of Houston-based real estate mogul Gerald Hines, who's built projects designed by I.M. Pei, Frank Gehry, and, of course, Robert A.M. Stern) purchased this floor for $6.5 million in 2008, pre-reno, and subsequently brought on Stern. After such a grand renovation, the owners started seeking a hefty profit back in 2013, originally listing it for $16.5 million. Now, after several price chops, it's back for a much-reduced price of $9.5 million.
See the full renovation

October 2, 2015

Olson Kundig Architects Turn an Upper East Side Water Tower Into a Fantasy Penthouse

By Rebecca Paul

By U.S. standards New York is a pretty old city, and over the years New Yorkers have been pretty diligent about preserving its historic architecture. As we head into the future, we're seeing more and more old industrial buildings being transformed into beautiful homes. A great example is this Upper East Side penthouse built inside a water tower that is not only awesome in concept, but is also stunning to look at. Lili and Lee Siegelson, the couple who own the immaculate home, worked with Olson Kundig Architects, and together they transformed two floors of the building into an apartment big enough for their happy family.
Go inside this stunning penthouse

October 2, 2015

New Yorker Spotlight: John Philis Serves Up Luncheonette History at Lexington Candy Shop

By Susan Cohen

On the corner of 83rd Street and Lexington Avenue sits a luncheonette with a lot of history. Lexington Candy Shop was opened in 1925 by third-generation owner John Philis’ grandfather, and for nine decades the shop has served American classics to Upper East Siders. In a city that was once full of luncheonettes, this is believed to be the only one left in Manhattan. Perhaps it's because John is carrying on two traditions–keeping a family business alive and preserving a piece of American culture. He takes great pride in Lexington Candy Shop’s rich personal and national histories, especially since 2015 marked the shop's 90th year in business. We recently spoke with John to learn about the shop’s history and find out how the local gem mixes the past and present in every milkshake.
Get John's story this way

October 1, 2015

New Photos Inside Billionaire Carlos Slim’s UES Mansion Asking a Record $80 Million

Back in May, 6sqft learned that Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim had put his Upper East Side mansion at 1009 Fifth Avenue on the market for a record $80 million. While coverage at the time was mainly focused on the insane asking price and the location, at the end of the day, what we all really wanted to know was what exactly was inside this 20,000-square-foot behemoth that warranted a high eight-figure price tag. Now, lo and behold, Curbed has just spotted the updated listing for the limestone and red-brick stunner, and as one would anticipate, it boasts all the ornate details and grandiose spaces you'd expect from such a historic home—although far less flash that what you'd dream up for one of the world's richest men.
Get a closer look inside here

Distinctive Homes

October 1, 2015

Upper East Side Triplex, Asking $1.795 Million, Looks Like a Medieval Castle

There are some apartments in New York that leave you at a loss of words. This one, a triplex co-op at 403 East 87th Street in the Upper East Side, has a decor that definitely stands out. The best we could come up with in describing it was "medieval castle," with its wood detailing, dark red furniture, and antique collection of books. Even the backyard space has some distinctive lighting and decor. If that's your thing, it is now on the market for $1.795 million.
Take a look

Distinctive Homes

September 24, 2015

Live Your Versailles Fantasies in This Gilded Upper East Side Mansion for $60K/Month

There are undoubtedly many grand mansions of this kind in the rarified environs of the Upper East Side, some even grander and gold-er–but they don't pop up among the rental listings too often. This triplex palace at 10 East 62nd Street is clearly in search of someone who is looking to make an impression. The rental bill is steep at $60,000 a month, but, again, there are plenty of big-ticket rentals around. What you're getting for your monthly outlay is less about substance than it is about 5,600 square feet of gold-and-marble-covered, let-them-eat-cake opulence–in addition to four bedrooms, two living rooms, two kitchens, and an elevator, just to start with. The home has been on and off the rental market for several years–on the last go-round it was asking $48k (which is still in the listing title, though the listing body names the higher rent), and that was just a year ago. So whomever's behind the pricing has faith in the city's booming economy.
More of this gilded palace

Distinctive Homes

September 21, 2015

VIDEO: The History of the Upper East Side Mansion Where the Pope Is Staying

By Dana Schulz

Talk surrounding the Pope's Upper East Side crash pad has been mainly focused on street closures and insane security precautions, but this video by Regis High School (h/t Carl Quintanilla) provides the interesting history of the townhouse, providing a behind-the-scenes look at Pope Francis' "home away from Rome." Built in 1894, 20 East 72nd Street was originally home to Julia Murphy Grant, daughter of U.S. Senator Edward Murphy of New York, and Hugh J. Grant, the youngest man ever elected mayor of New York City. When Grant died in 1910, he left behind a $9 million estate to his wife. Being devoutly Catholic, she used the money to establish Regis High School before her death in 1944. In 1975, their son Hugh Grant, Jr. donated his parents' former home to the Archdiocese of New York. Since then, it's been the home of the Vatican's representative to the United Nations, and beginning with Pope John Paul II’s visit to New York City in 1979, it has served as the official residence of visiting pontiffs.
Watch the video here

History

September 11, 2015

Lavish Lenox Hill Pad of Late Socialite and Philanthropist Carroll Petrie Lists for $30M

The lavish pad of the late socialite and philanthropist Carroll Petrie at big-name favorite 834 Fifth Avenue has just hit the market, and it's asking a very impressive $30 million. The big question is, where will the sale money go when the time comes? Carroll, who was married to the late retailing giant Milton Petrie, passed away in February, but drama quickly started brewing over her $100 million will. She left $12.5 million to her daughter Andrea Portago, whom she had with her former late husband, Spanish race car driver Alfonso de Portago, but with an odd stipulation based on their contentious relationship. The bulk of her estate was left to her Carroll Petrie Foundation, which supports the Dog Rescue Project of the ASPCA. But this likely isn't sitting well with Andrea, who already retained estates and trust attorney Harvey E. Corn (he also worked on the cases of Brooke Astor and Huguette Clark). Whatever the legal outcome, the 11-room home will certainly make its new owner feel like NYC royalty.
Take a look around the impressive apartment

September 9, 2015

Lauren McGrath’s Upper East Side Pied-a-Terre Is an Elegant Mix of Traditional and Contemporary

By Rebecca Paul

Keeping business in the family is extremely common, but it's not everyday that you meet a mother-daughter interior design team with taste this impeccable. Lauren McGrath and her mother Suzanne, who make up the aptly titled firm McGrath II, are already known for their stunning townhouses, country homes and pied-a-terres, so when it came time to revamp her own Upper East Side apartment, Lauren led the way without hesitation.
READ MORE

September 8, 2015

Elegant and Historic Carnegie Hill Townhouse Asks $7.45 Million

Carnegie Hill, a neighborhood of the Upper East Side, is known for its good bones—much of the area lies within historic districts and is dominated by brownstones, townhouses, mansions and museums. This particular property, at 121 East 91st Street, is located on a leafy and residential block of impressive architecture. The townhouse, built at the turn of the century, is no less impressive. It's been well-maintained from the outside and well-modernized from within. It is now on the market for $7.45 million after selling for $4.4 million back in 2003.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

September 3, 2015

Miraculously Unscathed by Time, This Historic Wooden UES Townhouse Seeks Tenants

Townhouses available for rent have a way of seeming decadent and dreamy, the perfect home for a collective of friends or a lucky city family. Their monthly bill is often but a dream for many as well, and this Upper East Side home asking $18,500 a month is no exception; the house itself, however, is quite exceptional. The amazingly preserved home at 120 East 92nd Street, as well as its neighbor at number 122, and a third, a block over at number 160, comprise a trio of wooden houses built between 1859 and 1871, before the city sprung up on all sides. This collection of dainty wooden houses presents an utterly charming shock of nostalgia amid the brick, stone and steel of Manhattan's Upper East. One of the last wood-frame houses to be built in Manhattan, the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission called 120 East 92nd "...a delightful surprise. Time and change have passed it by." But change, in this case, has been good: The three-story, four-bedroom home's longtime owners have renovated it for comfort and livability–and preserved it with the utmost care; it boasts every modern convenience while keeping its historic beauty.
Take a look inside this rare historic home

Liza Minnelli Makes an $8.4M Sale on Her Upper East Side Apartment

Image courtesy of Tim Macdonald

September 2, 2015

Liza Minnelli Makes an $8.4M Sale on Her Upper East Side Apartment

By Diane Pham

And it is indeed all that jazz. Legendary actress and singer Liza Minnelli has just sold her co-op at the Imperial House at 150 East 69th Street, reports The Real Deal. City records filed yesterday afternoon show that the star struck an $8.372 million deal with New York socialites Robert Beyer and Loren Pack. The 21st floor showstopper was designed by Timothy Macdonald, who created a tranquil and versatile living environment for Minnelli that could easily be reconfigured for entertaining. The apartment's walls are also adorned with plenty of Broadway memorabilia and an incredible Andy Warhol tribute to her mother, Judy Garland.
more inside minnelli's home here

August 27, 2015

Soccer Star Andrea Pirlo Checks Out $30K/Month Lenox Hill Penthouse

Just a week after international soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo bought an $18.5 million loft at the Trump Tower, another big-name footballer is looking to score some NYC real estate. The Post reports that Italian player Andrea Pirlo has checked out a $29,995/month penthouse at 205 East 59th Street, which makes sense as the midfielder joined the New York City Football Club just last month. The 2,700-square-foot Lenox Hill pad takes up the entire top floor of the luxury building and offers five outdoor spaces, massive windows, and 13-foot ceilings.
Take a look around the penthouse

August 26, 2015

Saudi Prince Is New Owner of Joan Rivers’ Lavish Penthouse, Will Undertake a Gut Renovation

Initial reports told us that Joan Rivers' opulent Upper East Side penthouse had sold for its asking price of $28 million to a Middle Eastern buyer. And now the Post confirms that the new owner is 65-year-old Saudi prince Muhammad bin Fahd. More newsworthy, though, is the fact that the prince plans to completely gut the 5,100-square-foot triplex, meaning it will lose its legendary gilded details that Rivers once called "Louis XIV meets Fred and Ginger."
Find out more

August 26, 2015

Handel Architects’ Luxurious ‘Amalfi’ Condo Tower Will Now Be Swanky Senior Living Pads

By Ondel Hylton

Here's a closer look at Handel Architects' design of a would-have-been condominium tower at 305 East 93rd Street, named The Amalfi. The five-parcel site located at the northeast corner of Second Avenue and East 93rd Street in Yorkville was slated to be developed by Merchants Hospitality until they recently bowed out to a senior living developer, Maplewood. Handel Architects' energetic design of staggering double-height windows, deeply set within a concrete frame was planned to rise a sheer 29-stories above Second Avenue. A lower four-story wing along 93rd Street would have been topped by an outdoor swimming pool. The tower's structural dynamism recalls the firm's recently finished rental tower, 170 Amsterdam on the Upper West Side, that flaunts a diagrid concrete exoskeleton. While the firm will remain the building's designers, it is unclear how much of the shown condominium design will be retained. Considering the project will now be re-tinkered for senior living, we're expecting a little less Amalfi and a bit more Fort Myers.
Find out more here

August 25, 2015

Check Out This Affordable One-Bedroom Co-op Asking $575K on the Upper East Side

In the world of NYC real estate, the term "affordable" is all relative. $575,000 for a one-bedroom apartment isn't cheap by any means, but in New York, it is a good deal when we're talking about a prime neighborhood of Manhattan. Cue this co-op apartment now up for sale at 173 East 74th Street on the Upper East Side. It's a half-block from Lexington Avenue and three blocks from Central Park. While it isn't a huge apartment, it's well-kept and just spacious enough.
See more

Distinctive Homes

August 13, 2015

Marilyn Monroe and Milton Greene Conspired in This Upper East Side Townhouse

Back in 2006, this 3,500 square-foot four-story Upper East Side townhouse first surfaced on the rental market, and again three years later; in 2010, its owner attempted to find a renter for the winter holiday season (a portion of December) apparently without much luck. After bouncing through several different agencies, 127 East 78th Street landed at Sotheby's in 2011 with the intent of marketing the house as a summer rental for $25K; not much luck there either, as townhouse renters tended to want something more long term. A lesson seems to have been learned here, as there are no short-term stipulations mentioned in its new listing for $27,500.00 a month. What is mentioned is more interesting: The townhouse once belonged to famous fashion photographer Milton Greene–known for his collaboration with Marilyn Monroe on photo shoots as well as their joint film production company–and his wife, Amy. Marilyn considered the home a sanctuary among friends when she was in town. And though its interiors have likely been updated since Marilyn's day, the elegant Upper East Side enclave still retains the aura of an East Coast refuge for Old Hollywood.
Take a look around

August 11, 2015

Be Woody Allen’s Neighbor for $80K a Month in This Historic Upper East Side Townhouse

Trophy purchase, short-term refuge, or family home? Take your pick. This impressive and unique townhouse at 116 East 70th Street was previously owned by philanthropist George Soros’s ex, Susan Weber Soros, who bought the 5,688-square-foot home in 2012 for $22.5 million and proceeded to see it through a thorough renovation, updating infrastructure and interiors and installing every 21st-century comfort known to stratospherically-priced townhouse-owning man (or woman, as the case was). Post-renovation, the barrel-fronted, copper-clad townhouse changed hands in an off-market deal to an anonymous LLC for $31 million. The house was back on the market again for $33 million last February after only four months. With its price pared down to $28 million, it’s still seeking a buyer, but is now having a go at the rental market, too. The stunning single-family manse–all five floors of it–is being offered for $80,000 a month, which comes with the caché of calling Woody Allen your next-door neighbor.
Tour the house, this way

August 3, 2015

Summer Rental: This Upper East Side Townhouse with a ‘Dramatic’ Past Wants $25k for Five Weeks

Read the rest of the story here

This five-story townhouse at 50 East 64th Street between Madison and Park Avenues is available for rent, fully furnished, for five weeks only, from August 1 to September 7. The asking rent for that time is $25,000; according to the listing, it's "about half what this house would rent for on a conventional one year basis." Within its 6,000 square feet are 14 rooms and 1,500 square feet of outdoor space on three levels. The recently-renovated home is as grand as it gets without going too far over the top; it's Upper East Side style sans velvet and chintz, opulence without clutter–though a wealth of decorator flourishes make it clear the interiors didn’t get this way by accident.
See what your month-long residence could look like

Distinctive Homes

July 29, 2015

Rare UES Townhouse Addition Coming to Fifth Avenue’s Museum Mile

By Ondel Hylton

New buildings along Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side are hard to come by, but a rare development prospect may be in the works for a small site on a dormant stretch of the avenue in Carnegie Hill. Building permits filed yesterday detail the construction of a five-story residential addition atop an existing eight-story, 30-foot-wide townhouse at 1143 Fifth Avenue, between 95th and 96th Streets. The brick and limestone building designed by J.E.R. Carpenter, was erected in 1923, and up until recently, housed staffers of the French Embassy. Last June, the 16,000-square-foot, seven-unit property was unloaded by the French government for $36.4 million and picked up by a buyer listed as 1143 5th Ave LLC.
More on the potential development ahead

July 28, 2015

Donald Trump Gets $21M for Trump Park Avenue Penthouse

By Dana Schulz

When you have $1.4 billion in assets, $21 million is a drop in the bucket, but the Wall Street Journal reports that's what Donald Trump just got for the sale of his penthouse in his namesake building Trump Park Avenue. The apartment is not too exciting, but it does boast 6,200 square feet, ten-foot ceilings, five bedrooms, seven-and-a-half bathrooms, and a private elevator. Trump bought the full-floor penthouse in 2002, when his company converted the Upper East Side building to condos, but never lived there. It first hit the market back in 2013 for $35 million and most recently got a price chop to $24.99 million.
Look around the whole place here

New York in the ’60s: Domestic Yearnings, Yorkville Hangouts and Bartenders

Our series “New York in the ’60s” is a memoir by a longtime New Yorker who moved to the city after college in 1960. Each installment will take us through her journey during a pivotal decade. From $90/month apartments to working in the real “Mad Men” world, we’ll explore the city through the eyes of a spunky, driven female. In our first installment, we went apartment hunting with the girl, and now that she’s moved in on the Upper East Side, we learn how she went about decorating her first NYC apartment, her favorite haunts of early 1960s Yorkville, and her bartender boyfriend.

July 27, 2015

New York in the ’60s: Domestic Yearnings, Yorkville Hangouts and Bartenders

By Penelope Bareau

History

Roman Abramovich; View of the three townhouses — 11, 13, 15 (from L to R)

July 24, 2015

Roman Abramovich Closes on Third UES Townhouse for His $80M Makeshift Mansion

By Dana Schulz

At the beginning of the year, news broke that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich had secretly bought a townhouse at 11 East 75th Street for $29.7 million, which followed his purchase of a townhouse two doors down for $18.3 million a month earlier. So, of course, we all assumed that he would snatch up the townhouse wedged in between to create his very own makeshift mansion. And now it's official, as the Daily News reports today that Abramovich has closed on the townhouse at 13 East 75th Street for $30 million, bringing his total up to nearly $80 million.
Find out more here

July 14, 2015

Upper East Side Townhouse With Chanel-Inspired Bathroom Asks $26 Million