All articles by Michelle Cohen

Michelle is a New York-based writer and content strategist who has worked extensively with lifestyle brands like Seventeen, Country Living, Harper’s Bazaar and iVillage. In addition to being a copywriter for a digital media agency she writes about culture, New York City neighborhoods, real estate, style, design and technology among other topics. She has lived in a number of major US cities on both coasts and in between and loves all things relating to urbanism and culture.

Behind this $12M West Village townhouse is a private path to a secret garden

Photo credit: Kate Norberg/Russ Ross Photography

May 2, 2025

Behind this $12M West Village townhouse is a private path to a secret garden

By Michelle Cohen

On one of the many winding alleyways and streets of the most charming part of the West Village, this 22-foot-wide townhouse at 27 Perry Street has a secret in the back. Between this home and its neighbor is a private horse walk leading to the thoroughly romantic escape known as St. John's Colony gardens. Asking $11,950,000, the four-story, two-unit townhouse has plenty of charm on the inside as well, with historic details and a decorator's touch.
oodles of charm and a magical garden this way

Distinctive Homes

Once a coffee warehouse, this $11M Tribeca townhouse is a three-level condo with a hot tub in the back

Courtesy of The Bogard New York Team / Photos by Andrew Brincka, DDReps

May 1, 2025

Once a coffee warehouse, this $11M Tribeca townhouse is a three-level condo with a hot tub in the back

By Michelle Cohen

From the outside, this townhouse condo at 62 Beach Street looks to be every bit the historic loft building. Built in 1860, the former coffee, tea, and spice warehouse known as the Fischer Mills Building is right at home on the cobblestoned Tribeca street. Within, the classic restored warehouse conceals a 4,600-square-foot triplex that brings the loft aesthetic into the 21st century for a $10,995,000 buyer. Loft bones frame luxuries like a home gym, and the whole package includes a private garden with a hot tub.
luxe loft living, this way

Distinctive Homes

$1.78M Midtown condo is a renovated pre-war gem with designer details and old-world amenities

Photos courtesy of MW Studios for Sotheby’s International Realty

April 30, 2025

$1.78M Midtown condo is a renovated pre-war gem with designer details and old-world amenities

By Michelle Cohen

It's somewhat surprising to find that the elegantly-named Parc Vendome at 340 West 57th Street is a condominium; its old-world charm brings to mind the city's classic pre-war co-ops. In addition to condo convenience, this 14th-floor one-bedroom home offers 1,200 square feet of living space, modern renovations with a designer's eye, and a genteel collection of building amenities that range from a doorman to a private dining room. It's now on the market for $1,775,000.
take the tour

Distinctive Homes

This $1.25M Chelsea garden maisonette feels like a cottage in the city

Credit: Courtesy of The Corcoran Group

April 29, 2025

This $1.25M Chelsea garden maisonette feels like a cottage in the city

By Michelle Cohen

Despite being in one of New York City's most vibrant downtown neighborhoods, this street-level co-op at 450 West 20th Street has all the charm of a village cottage, pretty back garden included. Asking $1,250,000, the one-bedroom flat anchors a West Chelsea townhouse, with the verdant Seminary and its gardens just across the street.
step into the garden

Distinctive Homes

This $75M Chelsea penthouse includes the city’s largest private outdoor pool

All photos courtesy of Brad Stein

April 28, 2025

This $75M Chelsea penthouse includes the city’s largest private outdoor pool

By Michelle Cohen

When we behold corporate executive/real estate investor David Weinreb's west side trophy penthouse at 551 West 21st Street, a few questions may arise: Why does someone need three elevators? Do we want to walk through the wine closet to get to the living room? Is the West Side Highway a $75 million streetscape? And could we perhaps have done better than artificial turf for the 4,000-square-foot rooftop terrace? That said, if you're listing your penthouse for $75 million, in addition to city and river views for days, you'd really better have the largest private outdoor pool in New York City, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten had better have designed your kitchen. This box seat in the stadium of Manhattan living covers those must-haves and many more.
pick an elevator and take the tour

Beekman Place home of Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. asks $2M

Photos courtesy of Brown Harris Stevens

April 24, 2025

Beekman Place home of Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. asks $2M

By Michelle Cohen

A classic, elegant co-op at 455 East 51st Street, once the home of the late high-profile historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., is now on the market for $1,995,000. The three-bedroom corner apartment–on the sought-after A line at Beekman Terrace–overlooks the East River and Peter Detmold Park with a private balcony from which to behold both.
tour the apartment

Distinctive Homes

This $1.6M Boerum Hill condo is configured for cozy all-season living on two levels

Photos courtesy of Russ Ross Photography for The Corcoran Group

April 23, 2025

This $1.6M Boerum Hill condo is configured for cozy all-season living on two levels

By Michelle Cohen

Occupying the lower two floors of a robin's-egg-blue woodframe at 62 Bergen Street in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, this cleverly configured condo offers an opportunity to enjoy every New York City season. A wood-burning fireplace warms cozy winter nights, a private outdoor patio awaits summer afternoons, and a glass-clad mini-solarium fills with light all year round. Asking $1,550,000, the two-bedroom home is an architect-designed study in thinking out of the box.
get a closer look

Distinctive Homes

Banksy mural rescued from a Red Hook warehouse wall on view at Brookfield Place

Courtesy of Guernsey’s

April 22, 2025

Banksy mural rescued from a Red Hook warehouse wall on view at Brookfield Place

By Michelle Cohen

In a decade-long story with elusive British graffiti artist Banksy at its heart, an upcoming Guernsey's auction on May 21 will bring a 7,500-pound chunk of a Red Hook, Brooklyn warehouse to The Winter Garden at Brookfield Place. An outer wall of the warehouse in question was the site of a warehouse-wall-sized work created by Banksy in 2013, titled "Battle to Survive a Broken Heart," consisting of a bandaged red heart-shaped balloon. The painting bears the distinction of being the only one of his works that the artist has gone back to retouch after its completion.
Intrigued? Read on.

Events & Things To Do

The Upper East Side co-op where George Plimpton entertained the literary elite asks $5.25M

Photography credit: Ellen Silverman Photography for Douglas Elliman

April 18, 2025

The Upper East Side co-op where George Plimpton entertained the literary elite asks $5.25M

By Michelle Cohen

This house-sized duplex at 541 East 72nd Street, like so many of its Upper East Side neighbors, represents an era in New York City's social and cultural history. The 4,700-square-foot co-op is the former residence of literary luminary George Plimpton. The journalist, writer, and editor was known for hosting the city's literary elite. Asking $5,250,000, the duplex also housed the offices of The Paris Review, which Plimpton co-founded.
explore this literary landmark

Distinctive Homes

An eclectic Crown Heights townhouse with a vintage bohemian vibe asks $2.2M

All photos courtesy of Nikolas | The Real Estate Production Network

April 15, 2025

An eclectic Crown Heights townhouse with a vintage bohemian vibe asks $2.2M

By Michelle Cohen

This 1930s Colonial Craftsman home at 1005 Carroll Street shows that Brooklyn townhouse living can be joyfully imperfect while not sacrificing the luxury of space. Asking $2,175,000, the two-story-plus-basement home in Crown Heights has been updated and renovated by its current owner, an antique collector who designs interiors for film and television. The combination of eras and styles with a great eye for color promises a great backdrop for whatever feels like home to the next owner.
step inside

Distinctive Homes

Popular Articles

A chic little South Slope townhouse with a front porch, yard, and roof terrace asks $2.5M

Photos courtesy of Udi Almog, H5 Photography for The Corcoran Group

April 14, 2025

A chic little South Slope townhouse with a front porch, yard, and roof terrace asks $2.5M

By Michelle Cohen

As soon as you spot the compact-but-welcoming front porch and red door on the house at 320 15th Street, you can tell that good things can indeed come in small packages when it comes to townhouse living. Asking $2,495,000, this single-family South Slope residence has three bedrooms in its current layout and gets the important benefit of outdoor space in the form of (in addition to the rocking-chair ready porch) a large backyard and a full roof deck.
cute house tour, this way

Distinctive Homes

$2.4M Crown Heights townhouse enhances historic flourishes with modern comforts and craftsmanship

All photos courtesy of Hayley Ellen Day

April 11, 2025

$2.4M Crown Heights townhouse enhances historic flourishes with modern comforts and craftsmanship

By Michelle Cohen

In a week of featured townhouses with backyards awaiting spring plantings, this Renaissance Revival-style home at 259 New York Avenue might appear to come up short. But the 4,000-square-foot Crown Heights home with a pale limestone facade takes advantage of every inch of its significant interior space. A rare and elegant front porch–and a deck off the kitchen–allow outdoor living to be part of the picture. Asking $2,399,000, this pretty three-story townhouse is located on a historic Crown Heights block surrounded by similar beauties. Interiors have been given 21st-century updates while preserving a heavenly collection of original details.
get a closer look

Distinctive Homes

This old West Village firehouse is now a peerless $21M townhouse with a jazz club in the basement

Photo credit: Yale Wagner for Sotheby’s International Realty. Staging by Interior Marketing Group

April 10, 2025

This old West Village firehouse is now a peerless $21M townhouse with a jazz club in the basement

By Michelle Cohen

Lovely on its own, but even more interesting as a former firehouse, the five-story building at 78 Morton Street was built in the 1800s. In its current life, the 6,850-square-foot townhouse is a single-family residence that makes a remarkably strong case for living up to its $21 million ask. In addition to the peerless perk of a private, wood-paneled elevator that accesses each of its five floors, the exquisite home has a four-car garage/gallery space with a curb cut, a landscaped terrace garden, a glass-paneled penthouse level with a roof terrace, and an elegantly outfitted jazz club–complete with stage–in the basement.
step into the elevator for a tour

Distinctive Homes

This $5.5M Queen Anne townhouse in Park Slope finds room for modern life in historic geometry

Photos courtesy of Shannon Dupre, DD-Reps

April 9, 2025

This $5.5M Queen Anne townhouse in Park Slope finds room for modern life in historic geometry

By Michelle Cohen

This pale salmon brick-clad townhouse at 323 Garfield Place paints a pretty Park Slope picture, right down to having Prospect Park just steps away. Asking $5,500,000, the home is distinguished from the outside by arched windows and doorways, shingled gables, and a peaked roof. Within, historic character surrounds livable warmth, extending to a leafy rear yard and patio.
peek beneath the arches and gables

Distinctive Homes

$8M for ultra-modern townhouse living with a yard and six bedrooms in a Nomad condo

Photo courtesy of Michael Weinstein from MW- Studio

April 8, 2025

$8M for ultra-modern townhouse living with a yard and six bedrooms in a Nomad condo

By Michelle Cohen

It's not easy to find a Manhattan apartment with six full bedrooms and enough outdoor space for a summer full of barbecues without investing in a multi-story townhouse–and the maintenance burden that comes with it. Asking $7,985,000, this duplex condo at 120 East 29th Street is a study in contemporary design, surrounded by all the convenience and fun of the Nomad neighborhood and nearby Madison Square Park. Its six bedrooms are separated to give breathing space to family and guests; perhaps best of all, a wall of windows on the home's lower level opens onto 1,600 square feet of private landscaped backyard and patio space.
take the tour

Distinctive Homes

Angles, curves, and character define this $5M Winka Dubbeldam-designed Noho loft

All photos courtesy of Udom Surangsophon/MW Studio for The Corcoran Group

April 3, 2025

Angles, curves, and character define this $5M Winka Dubbeldam-designed Noho loft

By Michelle Cohen

If you can't bear the thought of living in a "cookie cutter" apartment, but you don't want to trade personality for outdated infrastructure or unwelcome quirks, look no further than this cool, creative co-op at 33 Bleecker Street. Thanks to design by noted Dutch architect Winka Dubbeldam, this top-floor loft, asking $4,995,000, has modern European style dialed in.
Get a closer look

Distinctive Homes

A three-story penthouse atop an Emery Roth-designed Upper West Side co-op asks $6M

All photos courtesy of Brown Harris Stevens

April 2, 2025

A three-story penthouse atop an Emery Roth-designed Upper West Side co-op asks $6M

By Michelle Cohen

This triplex co-op at the Oliver Cromwell at 12 West 72nd Street is classic Manhattan living with the added privilege of impressive outdoor space and dazzling, unobstructed Central Park views. Asking $5,995,000, the co-op, with its three floors of living space, feels like a townhouse. The pre-war details that come with the iconic Emery Roth-designed building are enhanced by interiors redesigned by Mutuus Studio; the home has even been featured in Architectural Digest.
take the three-floor tour

Distinctive Homes

For $4M, a terraced Park Slope townhouse, ready for spring gardening

Photos courtesy of Anastazia Swerer-McNutt/Allyson Lubow for The Corcoran Group

March 31, 2025

For $4M, a terraced Park Slope townhouse, ready for spring gardening

By Michelle Cohen

On a quintessential Park Slope block (just two blocks from the park), this 20-foot-wide red-brick townhouse at 428 7th Street is a perfect home base for anyone with a green thumb and outdoor aspirations. Asking $3,995,000, the two-family townhouse consists of a sunny garden flat topped by an owner's triplex, with a private back patio, a bedroom sun deck, and a landscaped front garden. Historic details like crown molding, tall windows, exposed brick, and interior archways from the home's turn-of-the-20th-century origins have been well-preserved, and there's plenty of space to work with if you have your own 21st-century vision.
backyard beauty, this way

Distinctive Homes

Miami meets Brooklyn in this $10M Williamsburg townhouse with a three-car garage

Photos courtesy of DDreps. Renderings courtesy of Masha Begun, Crosby Studios. Floorplans courtesy of Interiors by Kat.

March 28, 2025

Miami meets Brooklyn in this $10M Williamsburg townhouse with a three-car garage

By Michelle Cohen

Brought to you by the development team behind 112 India Street and The Bath Haus, Greenpoint, and designed by the visionaries at Crosby Studios (Opening Ceremony, Dover Street Market Paris, and immersive environments at Design Miami/2021), this single-family design masterpiece at 276 Berry Street is steps from the Williamsburg waterfront. But its architecturally distinct seven-level form, pale stone facade, modern windows–and the indulgent privacy of a three-car garage–wouldn't be out of place in Miami or Malibu. Asking $10,000,000, the corner home embodies modern design inside and out.
take the tour

Distinctive Homes

On her own: The legacy of women’s hotels in New York City

Women in the dining room of the Clara de Hirsch Home for Working Girls, undated. Photo courtesy of 92NY Archives

March 27, 2025

On her own: The legacy of women’s hotels in New York City

By Michelle Cohen

The tale of a woman on her own, arriving in New York City to find her fortune, began long before Mary Tyler Moore exuberantly tossed her hat into the air. The city's history is inseparable from international women's history, and a handful of residences that offered refuge for young ladies arriving solo is undoubtedly part of this story. With good moral intentions–and rules and regulations–they were gracious in the amenities and camaraderie offered. Introduced here are some of the historic hotels that helped generations of women gain a foothold in the big city–as well as one set to reopen this year as a modern women-only residence.
a room of one's own

History

For $1.3M, a 1926 apartment in the Bronx that feels like an Italian hillside villa

All photos courtesy of Rinze van Brug; some photos are virtually staged.

March 26, 2025

For $1.3M, a 1926 apartment in the Bronx that feels like an Italian hillside villa

By Michelle Cohen

With a hilltop view of the Hudson River and the Palisades, the romantically-named Villa Charlotte Bronte at 2501 Palisade Avenue is a hidden gem within New York City limits. Built in 1926, the 17-unit complex is perched along steep cliffs, surrounded by greenery, and blessed with several stone patios for private enjoyment. Asking $1,315,000, this three-bedroom home offers living on three floors, including a light-filled garret in keeping with its charm.
the villa awaits

Distinctive Homes

Live like an early-aughts media icon in Nick Denton’s $3.5M Soho loft

Photo credit: Kate Glicksberg

March 25, 2025

Live like an early-aughts media icon in Nick Denton’s $3.5M Soho loft

By Michelle Cohen

Though Hungary might not be the first place that comes to mind when planning one's escape from 2025 America, Gawker founder Nick Denton is leaving his Soho home base and relocating his family to Europe, with precisely that destination in mind, according to New York magazine. European health care might be superior, but it will be hard to top his sexy loft at 76 Crosby Street. Asking $3,500,000, the two-bedroom loft condo is at the epicenter of downtown Manhattan living.
get a closer look

Distinctive Homes

Within this $10M Brooklyn Heights townhouse is a masterpiece of modern architectural design

All photos courtesy of Virginia Carey for Brown Harris Stevens

March 20, 2025

Within this $10M Brooklyn Heights townhouse is a masterpiece of modern architectural design

By Michelle Cohen

Along historic Willow Place in Brooklyn Heights, the pretty carriage house at number 17 fits in perfectly; you'd never know that only the facade and sidewalls remain of the early-19th-century former stable. Architect Robert Kahn reconstructed the 4,600-square-foot building from the inside out in 2012, creating a modernist home for the ages, with three private garden spaces–including a stunning top-floor atrium courtyard–and a garage.
take the tour

Distinctive Homes

For $1.75M, your own private oculus with skyline views on the Upper West Side

All photos courtesy of Celeste Godoy for The Corcoran Group

March 19, 2025

For $1.75M, your own private oculus with skyline views on the Upper West Side

By Michelle Cohen

Tucked under the eaves at the Ansonia condo at 2109 Broadway, this petite penthouse offers a unique way to experience panoramic city vistas. The circular windows that punctuate the Upper West Side building's signature Beaux-Arts architecture create an oculus effect that brings in light and provides a birds-eye view of Manhattan. Asking $1,750,000, the two-bedroom home has the air of a Parisian garret (without the stair climb), with the added condo convenience of the iconic address.
high-floor heaven, this way

Distinctive Homes

A newsroom icon’s sprawling Upper West Side co-op asks $5.5M

Photo credit: Jon Nissenbaum

March 18, 2025

A newsroom icon’s sprawling Upper West Side co-op asks $5.5M

By Michelle Cohen

A year after the passing of PBS journalist Robert "Robin" MacNeil (of MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour fame) the Canadian-American TV journalist's nine-room home at 44 West 77th Street is for sale. Asking $5,500,000, the pre-war co-op on the Upper West Side is the kind of classic Manhattan residence that feels like a rambling country estate, where you could throw lavish parties–or hide from just about everyone (even the news).
take the tour

Distinctive Homes

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