On the market for the first time since 1969, this $5M Tribeca artists’ loft is a blank canvas

As the listing for this $4.995 million Tribeca spread at 85 Walker Street says, “vintage” doesn’t do this amazing artists’ loft justice. Occupying the entire fourth and fifth floors of a cast iron building that dates from 1868, it’s more of what we’d call a piece of New York City history; the top-floor duplex is on the market for the first time since 1969.

The space features original antique touches like exposed 13-inch joists and beams, and it’s brimming with additions made during years of use as an art studio, live/work space and home. The extra-wide floor planks would be right at home in a trendy 21st-century condominium, meant to embody the charm of loft living.

The fifth-floor cutout enables 27-foot ceilings and skylights higher still; The subsequent light and space were clearly among the main reasons lofts like this became synonymous with art studios and brought so many artists to neighborhoods like this one.

The home’s floorplate covers 87 by 25 feet and the building’s FAR allows for more vertical building space.

The listing calls this iconic find “Rare, raw and ready for your architect;” the co-op space offers so many options, though, to preserve, improve on, or simply honor the attributes that make it unique to a bygone era of downtown Manhattan life.

[Listing: 85 Walker Street, #4/5 by Paddington Matz and Mark Blackwell for Town Residential]

[At CityRealty.com]

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Images courtesy of Town Residential.