Luxurious Upper East Side mansion with a pool, movie theatre, and library is back for $79M
Listing images courtesy of Brown Harris Stevens
The palatial Upper East Side home that almost became the most expensive townhouse ever sold in New York City two years ago is back on the market. The seven-bedroom mansion was first listed in 2013 for a whopping $114 million and then for $98 million in 2014. It was most recently available in 2018 for $88 million and just received another price cut to (a still very formidable) $79 million. The 40-foot wide property at 12 East 69th Street sprawls over 20,000 square feet on six levels and comes with a movie theatre, saltwater pool, double-height library, and a 2,650 square-foot roof terrace overlooking Central Park.
Originally built in 1883, the townhouse was reimagined in the Neoclassical style by architect William Bosworth in 1913. The building housed a suite of medical offices before the current owner, Vincent Viola (owner of the Florida Panthers and one-time Trump cabinet contender) bought the residence in 2005 for $20 million. His wife Teresa led a gut renovation of the home, leaving only the facade intact.
“She went on worldwide shopping sprees to find precise shades of Venetian onyx (even the elevator is onyx) and other decorative finishes and visited Versailles so that she could replicate its grandeur in her 900-square-foot dining room,” according to a 2013 New York Times feature on the opulent home.
The entrance is through the parlor floor, which contains a rotunda with 28.5-foot ceilings and a 40-foot living room with a travertine fireplace, coffered ceiling, a south-facing Juliet balcony, and floor-to-ceiling windows. A hidden door off the main hallway leads to the double-height library, adorned with a ceiling mural and a two-story, hand-stenciled depiction of Rudyard Kipling’s “If” poem.
A grand granite staircase with mahogany and gold-leaf banisters brings you to the third floor. The formal dining room on this level accommodates 50 guests and features heated black walnut floors. The listing notes that the large kitchen comes with “almost every cooking appliance known to a chef,” including a brick oven, multiple Viking ovens, and three stone sinks.
The fourth floor has two large bedrooms and room to create at least two more. A massive master suite takes over most of the fifth floor with a large sitting room, two full bathrooms, and two dressing rooms.
The lower levels include a movie theatre with 12 red velvet chairs and a balcony on the ground level and a saltwater swimming pool and two saunas on the floor below. An elevator provides access to the terrace which spans the length of the roof.
Sparing no luxury, the Viola’s installed heated sidewalks, and exterior stairs so future buyers will never have to shovel snow.
[Listing: 12 East 69th Street by Paula Del Nunzio of Brown Harris Stevens]
[At CityRealty]
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Listing images courtesy of Brown Harris Stevens
