On an historic and typically lovely tree-lined Upper East Side block between Park and Lexington Avenues, this sprawling 2,400-square-foot duplex co-op at 125 East 74th Street is as elegant and old-school as it gets, with modern interiors and laid-back charm. The listing points out the “European style and flair” of this classic eight, asking $4.25 million, with four bedrooms upstairs and plenty of entertaining space below; according to records, the home’s current owner is Charlotte Sarkozy, ex-wife of Mary Kate Olsen’s husband, financier Olivier Sarkozy (who is also former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s half-brother). As if that weren’t enough of a pedigree, the building was also Jackie Onassis’ childhood home.
Upper East Side
Hotels, Upper East Side
Photo by Scott Frances for the Mark
Most New Yorker don’t spend $75,000 a year on rent, but a hotel room on the Upper East Side is asking that hefty sum for just one night. First reported by Bloomberg, the duplex penthouse suite is at the swanky Mark Hotel and boasts six bathrooms, five bedrooms, two wet bars, a 25,000-square-foot rooftop terrace overlooking Central Park, and a living room under the landmarked building’s cupola that can be converted into a full-sized Grand Ballroom. In addition to being the country’s most expensive hotel suite, it’s also the largest at 10,000 square feet.
Art, Upper East Side
The Met Breuer. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum.
It was announced Friday that the Met Museum would lease the Breuer building to the Frick, the New York Times reports. According to an agreement between the two venerable art institutions, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will likely sign the Met Breuer on Madison Avenue over to the Frick Collection beginning in 2020. Doing so would allow the in-debt Met to free itself of the last three years of an eight-year lease and an $18 million annual expense and enable it to put funds toward improving the modern and contemporary galleries at its Fifth Avenue flagship. Likewise, the Frick would have a suitable temporary home while the Gilded Age mansion that it inhabits is being renovated.
Cool Listings, Starchitecture, Upper East Side
Photos by Aaron Thompson of Esto
Uruguayan-born architect Rafael Viñoly is best known for designing 432 Park, the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere, but apparently, he makes time for private homes, too–at least when they come with headline-making features like a bullet-proof glass facade. His firm was first tapped to design the townhouse at 162 East 64th Street back in 2015 by Argentinian business mogul and billionaire Eduardo Eurnekian. Originally, the seven-story (don’t worry, there’s an elevator) residence was to serve as both his home and U.S. headquarters, but it looks like he instead decided to list the finished product for $50 million (h/t CityRealty).
Celebrities, Cool Listings, Upper East Side
Photo of Bourdain via Wikimedia
The Upper East Side home of late chef Anthony Bourdain is for sale for $3.7 million, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Located at 40 East 94th Street in the Carnegie Hill Tower, the apartment features five bedrooms, a sleek high-end kitchen, and lots of custom built-in storage. Bourdain and his ex-wife Ottavia Busia purchased the condo in late 2014 for $3.35 million, according to city property records.
Cool Listings, Interiors, Upper East Side
This neo-Federal townhouse, less than a block from Central Park at 9 East 81st Street, received recent exterior and interior renovations from architect Peter Pennoyer–whose work epitomizes Upper East Side style–in partnership with the renowned landscape architect Madison Cox. Better yet, the home’s owners since 2014 are Christopher Davis and Sharon Davis, who is herself a celebrated New York City-based architect (you can see her work featured on 6sqft here and here.). The listing says the house has been “fully and continually renovated by the current owner,” so we can see why it’s so stunning. It was last purchased for $22 million, and it’s currently asking $19,950,000. But with features like an elevator, a grand floating spiral staircase, and 6,150 square feet of living space over five floors, we wouldn’t rule out a bidding war.
Celebrities, Construction Update, Upper East Side
6sqft recently reported that construction had begun on Russia-born billionaire Roman Abramovich‘s Upper East Side megamansion combo of three existing townhouses on East 75th Street. Plans for the megamansion with a pool, art room, backyard and a glass and bronze curtain wall connecting the three townhouses in the rear, designed by Stephen Wang + Associates, were approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in November of 2017. The LPC approval came a few months after Abramovich announced a split from arts patron and businesswoman Dasha Zhukova, whom he married in 2008 and with whom he has a son and a daughter. Now, the New York Post reports, Abramovich has transferred ownership of the properties at 9, 11 and 13, along with at least one other Upper East Side address to his ex.
Features, real estate trends, Transportation, Upper East Side, yorkville
Photo via Flickr cc
For over a decade, a large swath of the Upper East Side was under construction, but for many residents, it felt more like being under attack. As the Q Line was being built—after a century-long wait—the neighborhood not only had to tolerate restricted traffic along Second Avenue above ground but also more dramatic interruptions. Indeed, at one point in the subway line’s construction, underground explosions even shattered the windows of several local businesses. But with the noise, traffic, and disarray of the Second Avenue Subway in the past, the surrounding neighborhood has already quickly bounced back. As per predictions, since the completion of the line, real estate values, volume of sales, and rental prices in Yorkville have experienced an upswing.
Design, Interiors, Landscape Architecture, Upper East Side
An UES townhouse is transformed in the Arts and Crafts style, with a self-pollinating rooftop garden
For a client who had attempted two previous renovations in an Upper East Side townhouse that had retained its grand details from a 1937 remodel, the third time was a charm with the guidance of architect Anik Pearson. The townhouse received a complete overhaul of its infrastructure and service core to maximize performance and efficiency, with the layer of history reflected in its rooms and details carefully restored and preserved. Among the best of the renewal was the redesign of an existing rooftop garden to include sustainable elements like a grass roof, live-roof sedum and herb garden modules, a vegetable patch, a flower cutting garden, an orchard, a worm compost and a beehive for pollination.
Cool Listings, Interiors, Upper East Side
Manhattan’s Upper East Side is filled with enormous private mansions with configurations that you’d never guess from looking at their tidy facades, and the five-story, 20-room bow-fronted house at 207 East 71st Street, asking $13.5 million, is no exception. This 10,550-square-foot brick manse, built in 1982, is one of three in a row erected by friends who happened to be prominent real estate professionals. In this particular case, the already massive house includes a long-term lease on the first two floors of the adjacent mansion, allowing for a 50-foot-wide garden–one of the widest in Manhattan.