Late art collector Barbara Jakobson’s longtime UES townhouse relists for $9M
Photo Credit: Christie’s International Real Estate New York
The Upper East Side townhouse where passionate art collector and tastemaker Barbara Jakobson lived for six decades has listed for $8,995,000. A native New Yorker who was a longtime trustee of the Museum of Modern Art, Jakobson bought the five-story home at 167 East 74th Street in 1966 and lived there until her death at age 92 last summer. The Lenox Hill property first hit the market in April for $9,800,000, following an auction of many of Jakobson’s beloved artworks.
Constructed in 1910 and later expanded in 1956, the townhouse was once home to filmmaker Elia Kazan, who lived there while filming “East of Eden” and “Splendor in the Grass.” During that era, Kazan hosted stars like James Dean, Natalie Wood, and Marlon Brando.
Jakobson and her husband at the time, John Jakobson, bought the home from Arthur T. Hadley in 1966, as the New York Times reported. Jakobson went on to fill the five-story home with a curated collection of paintings, sculpture, and furniture.
The 20-foot-wide house continued to evolve alongside her collection. During a 2021 interview and house tour, she told Curbed: “I see the house as a vessel for an ongoing autobiographical exercise. I keep the transformation as proof of life.”
This past winter, Christie’s presented “Temple of Style: The Barbara Jakobson Collection,” an auction of post-war and contemporary art, design, photography, and prints. As the Times reported, the Jeff Koons sculpture “Winter Bears” sold for $7.6 million. The garden-level bar, built by Tom Sachs using Con Ed barricades, sold for $76,000.
On the garden level, the sunken living room, accessed via a curved staircase, is gallery-esque, with soaring 19-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the garden. The skylit space has a reminder of its former resident: the outline of a Frank Stella painting that once hung on the wall.
The living room has a direct connection to the 350-square-foot garden. Also on this level are the main kitchen, a bedroom, and a laundry room.
On the parlor floor, an entry hall lined with custom wallpaper by Peter Halley and three arches leads to the cozy den, which has a fireplace and overlooks the double-height great room.
The third, fourth, and fifth floors contain the property’s remaining bedrooms. The primary suite, which has a kitchenette and separate living space, is on the top floor. In total, the two-family property measures roughly 6,000 square feet, including a two-bedroom duplex apartment located off the entrance.
While some New Yorkers knew the artful history of the address, others in the neighborhood recognized the home as “The Squirrel House,” due to the bronze squirrel sculptures that stood watch at its entrance and the die-cut of squirrels above the red door.
[Listing details: 167 East 74th Street at CityRealty]
[At Christie’s International Real Estate New York by Leslie Hirsch, Edward Joseph, Howard Morrel, and Benjamin Anderson]
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