Upper East Side

Townhouses available for rent have a way of seeming decadent and dreamy, the perfect home for a collective of friends or a lucky city family. Their monthly bill is often but a dream for many as well, and this Upper East Side home asking $18,500 a month is no exception; the house itself, however, is quite exceptional. The amazingly preserved home at 120 East 92nd Street, as well as its neighbor at number 122, and a third, a block over at number 160, comprise a trio of wooden houses built between 1859 and 1871, before the city sprung up on all sides. This collection of dainty wooden houses presents an utterly charming shock of nostalgia amid the brick, stone and steel of Manhattan's Upper East. One of the last wood-frame houses to be built in Manhattan, the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission called 120 East 92nd "...a delightful surprise. Time and change have passed it by." But change, in this case, has been good: The three-story, four-bedroom home's longtime owners have renovated it for comfort and livability–and preserved it with the utmost care; it boasts every modern convenience while keeping its historic beauty.
Take a look inside this rare historic home

Liza Minnelli Makes an $8.4M Sale on Her Upper East Side Apartment

Image courtesy of Tim Macdonald

September 2, 2015

Liza Minnelli Makes an $8.4M Sale on Her Upper East Side Apartment

By Diane Pham

And it is indeed all that jazz. Legendary actress and singer Liza Minnelli has just sold her co-op at the Imperial House at 150 East 69th Street, reports The Real Deal. City records filed yesterday afternoon show that the star struck an $8.372 million deal with New York socialites Robert Beyer and Loren Pack. The 21st floor showstopper was designed by Timothy Macdonald, who created a tranquil and versatile living environment for Minnelli that could easily be reconfigured for entertaining. The apartment's walls are also adorned with plenty of Broadway memorabilia and an incredible Andy Warhol tribute to her mother, Judy Garland.
more inside minnelli's home here

August 27, 2015

Soccer Star Andrea Pirlo Checks Out $30K/Month Lenox Hill Penthouse

Just a week after international soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo bought an $18.5 million loft at the Trump Tower, another big-name footballer is looking to score some NYC real estate. The Post reports that Italian player Andrea Pirlo has checked out a $29,995/month penthouse at 205 East 59th Street, which makes sense as the midfielder joined the New York City Football Club just last month. The 2,700-square-foot Lenox Hill pad takes up the entire top floor of the luxury building and offers five outdoor spaces, massive windows, and 13-foot ceilings.
Take a look around the penthouse

August 26, 2015

Saudi Prince Is New Owner of Joan Rivers’ Lavish Penthouse, Will Undertake a Gut Renovation

Initial reports told us that Joan Rivers' opulent Upper East Side penthouse had sold for its asking price of $28 million to a Middle Eastern buyer. And now the Post confirms that the new owner is 65-year-old Saudi prince Muhammad bin Fahd. More newsworthy, though, is the fact that the prince plans to completely gut the 5,100-square-foot triplex, meaning it will lose its legendary gilded details that Rivers once called "Louis XIV meets Fred and Ginger."
Find out more

August 26, 2015

Handel Architects’ Luxurious ‘Amalfi’ Condo Tower Will Now Be Swanky Senior Living Pads

By Ondel Hylton

Here's a closer look at Handel Architects' design of a would-have-been condominium tower at 305 East 93rd Street, named The Amalfi. The five-parcel site located at the northeast corner of Second Avenue and East 93rd Street in Yorkville was slated to be developed by Merchants Hospitality until they recently bowed out to a senior living developer, Maplewood. Handel Architects' energetic design of staggering double-height windows, deeply set within a concrete frame was planned to rise a sheer 29-stories above Second Avenue. A lower four-story wing along 93rd Street would have been topped by an outdoor swimming pool. The tower's structural dynamism recalls the firm's recently finished rental tower, 170 Amsterdam on the Upper West Side, that flaunts a diagrid concrete exoskeleton. While the firm will remain the building's designers, it is unclear how much of the shown condominium design will be retained. Considering the project will now be re-tinkered for senior living, we're expecting a little less Amalfi and a bit more Fort Myers.
Find out more here

August 25, 2015

Check Out This Affordable One-Bedroom Co-op Asking $575K on the Upper East Side

By Emily Nonko

In the world of NYC real estate, the term "affordable" is all relative. $575,000 for a one-bedroom apartment isn't cheap by any means, but in New York, it is a good deal when we're talking about a prime neighborhood of Manhattan. Cue this co-op apartment now up for sale at 173 East 74th Street on the Upper East Side. It's a half-block from Lexington Avenue and three blocks from Central Park. While it isn't a huge apartment, it's well-kept and just spacious enough.
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Distinctive Homes

August 13, 2015

Marilyn Monroe and Milton Greene Conspired in This Upper East Side Townhouse

Back in 2006, this 3,500 square-foot four-story Upper East Side townhouse first surfaced on the rental market, and again three years later; in 2010, its owner attempted to find a renter for the winter holiday season (a portion of December) apparently without much luck. After bouncing through several different agencies, 127 East 78th Street landed at Sotheby's in 2011 with the intent of marketing the house as a summer rental for $25K; not much luck there either, as townhouse renters tended to want something more long term. A lesson seems to have been learned here, as there are no short-term stipulations mentioned in its new listing for $27,500.00 a month. What is mentioned is more interesting: The townhouse once belonged to famous fashion photographer Milton Greene–known for his collaboration with Marilyn Monroe on photo shoots as well as their joint film production company–and his wife, Amy. Marilyn considered the home a sanctuary among friends when she was in town. And though its interiors have likely been updated since Marilyn's day, the elegant Upper East Side enclave still retains the aura of an East Coast refuge for Old Hollywood.
Take a look around

August 11, 2015

Be Woody Allen’s Neighbor for $80K a Month in This Historic Upper East Side Townhouse

Trophy purchase, short-term refuge, or family home? Take your pick. This impressive and unique townhouse at 116 East 70th Street was previously owned by philanthropist George Soros’s ex, Susan Weber Soros, who bought the 5,688-square-foot home in 2012 for $22.5 million and proceeded to see it through a thorough renovation, updating infrastructure and interiors and installing every 21st-century comfort known to stratospherically-priced townhouse-owning man (or woman, as the case was). Post-renovation, the barrel-fronted, copper-clad townhouse changed hands in an off-market deal to an anonymous LLC for $31 million. The house was back on the market again for $33 million last February after only four months. With its price pared down to $28 million, it’s still seeking a buyer, but is now having a go at the rental market, too. The stunning single-family manse–all five floors of it–is being offered for $80,000 a month, which comes with the caché of calling Woody Allen your next-door neighbor.
Tour the house, this way

August 3, 2015

Summer Rental: This Upper East Side Townhouse with a ‘Dramatic’ Past Wants $25k for Five Weeks

This five-story townhouse at 50 East 64th Street between Madison and Park Avenues is available for rent, fully furnished, for five weeks only, from August 1 to September 7. The asking rent for that time is $25,000; according to the listing, it's "about half what this house would rent for on a conventional one year basis." Within its 6,000 square feet are 14 rooms and 1,500 square feet of outdoor space on three levels. The recently-renovated home is as grand as it gets without going too far over the top; it's Upper East Side style sans velvet and chintz, opulence without clutter–though a wealth of decorator flourishes make it clear the interiors didn’t get this way by accident.
See what your month-long residence could look like

Distinctive Homes

July 29, 2015

Rare UES Townhouse Addition Coming to Fifth Avenue’s Museum Mile

By Ondel Hylton

New buildings along Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side are hard to come by, but a rare development prospect may be in the works for a small site on a dormant stretch of the avenue in Carnegie Hill. Building permits filed yesterday detail the construction of a five-story residential addition atop an existing eight-story, 30-foot-wide townhouse at 1143 Fifth Avenue, between 95th and 96th Streets. The brick and limestone building designed by J.E.R. Carpenter, was erected in 1923, and up until recently, housed staffers of the French Embassy. Last June, the 16,000-square-foot, seven-unit property was unloaded by the French government for $36.4 million and picked up by a buyer listed as 1143 5th Ave LLC.
More on the potential development ahead

July 28, 2015

Donald Trump Gets $21M for Trump Park Avenue Penthouse

Read the rest of the story here

When you have $1.4 billion in assets, $21 million is a drop in the bucket, but the Wall Street Journal reports that's what Donald Trump just got for the sale of his penthouse in his namesake building Trump Park Avenue. The apartment is not too exciting, but it does boast 6,200 square feet, ten-foot ceilings, five bedrooms, seven-and-a-half bathrooms, and a private elevator. Trump bought the full-floor penthouse in 2002, when his company converted the Upper East Side building to condos, but never lived there. It first hit the market back in 2013 for $35 million and most recently got a price chop to $24.99 million.
Look around the whole place here

New York in the ’60s: Domestic Yearnings, Yorkville Hangouts and Bartenders

Our series “New York in the ’60s” is a memoir by a longtime New Yorker who moved to the city after college in 1960. Each installment will take us through her journey during a pivotal decade. From $90/month apartments to working in the real “Mad Men” world, we’ll explore the city through the eyes of a spunky, driven female. In our first installment, we went apartment hunting with the girl, and now that she’s moved in on the Upper East Side, we learn how she went about decorating her first NYC apartment, her favorite haunts of early 1960s Yorkville, and her bartender boyfriend.

July 27, 2015

New York in the ’60s: Domestic Yearnings, Yorkville Hangouts and Bartenders

By Penelope Bareau

History

Roman Abramovich; View of the three townhouses — 11, 13, 15 (from L to R)

July 24, 2015

Roman Abramovich Closes on Third UES Townhouse for His $80M Makeshift Mansion

At the beginning of the year, news broke that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich had secretly bought a townhouse at 11 East 75th Street for $29.7 million, which followed his purchase of a townhouse two doors down for $18.3 million a month earlier. So, of course, we all assumed that he would snatch up the townhouse wedged in between to create his very own makeshift mansion. And now it's official, as the Daily News reports today that Abramovich has closed on the townhouse at 13 East 75th Street for $30 million, bringing his total up to nearly $80 million.
Find out more here

July 14, 2015

Upper East Side Townhouse With Chanel-Inspired Bathroom Asks $26 Million

By Emily Nonko

Where to begin with this Upper East Side townhouse at 18 East 69th Street? There's the Chanel-inspired bathrooms, an impressive variety of wallpaper, and a bathtub in a bedroom. There's the sheer size of the property, which holds a two-story retail space, a penthouse apartment, and another duplex. Then, of course, there's the price, which comes in at $26 million. It's hard to keep track of everything going on at this property, but one thing's for sure–we've never seen anything like it before.
See the interior

Distinctive Homes

July 13, 2015

New York’s First-Ever Penthouse: A 54-Room Upper East Side Mansion Built for a Cereal Heiress

By Lauren Price

There’s nothing like owning thousands of square feet of living space inside a penthouse, particularly in a town where power is measured by the size of one’s apartment. Ever wonder when the very first penthouse was built in Manhattan? It was in 1925, when George Fuller Construction Company decided to develop a 14-story apartment house at 1107 Fifth Avenue between 91st and 92nd Streets.
The rest of the story this way

June 29, 2015

Joan Rivers’s Opulent UES Penthouse May Have a New Owner

It's been almost five months since the late, great Joan Rivers's opulent Upper East Side penthouse hit the market for $28 million, and now the Post is reporting that the lavish triplex at 1 East 62nd Street may have a new owner. "Last Thursday, its final day, art and antiques storage specialists packed and hauled the remainder of what was heading to Christie’s and elsewhere... The sale’s not gone to contract, but there is a buyer," notes the paper.
Find out more here

June 26, 2015

Live in the Funky Former UES Factory of 1930s Gnome Bakers for $14K

By Aisha Carter

There are few things in life more charming than a gnome. We're willing to bet Americans would take more vacations if they could just pack that little guy from Travelocity along with them. Well, we'll do you one better. We are talking an actual gnome house. That's right, this $14,000 rental at 316 East 59th Street was once home to Gnome Bakers, a little bakery that sold oddly shaped breads and rolls.
More pics inside

June 17, 2015

Opulent Trump Park Avenue Penthouse Hangs onto $35M Price Tag

By Aisha Carter

It looks like Trump Park Avenue's Penthouse 31/32 is still looking for a buyer, a year and a half after a chopping $10 million off of its $45 million asking price. This 6,278-square-foot duplex has such a storied past on the market, you practically need an ESPN commentator to narrate it Kentucky Derby style. It made its first showing in 2007, asking $45 million. It raised the price to $51 million in 2008, after renovations. It returned in 2009, after another hiatus, asking a much lower $31 million. Then it disappeared for a few years before reappearing in 2013 with its original price tag of $45 million. Three months later it slashed $10 million off the price, landing at $35 million. Will this lavish home ever find the perfect owner with the perfect wallet?
More pics inside

Distinctive Homes

June 10, 2015

$120M UES Townhouses-to-Mansion Combo Officially Hits the Market

On Monday, news broke that the three Upper East Side townhouses owned by the billionaire Safra family were being quietly marketed as a $120 million combination to be turned into one giant mega-mansion. Today, the listing at 12-16 East 62nd Street has officially hit the market, and there's some pretty impressive floorplans to give prospective buyers an idea of how their palatial home could look. Also up for grabs is the brownstone next door to the trifecta at 18 East 62nd Street. This wouldn't combine as easily as the other three, as their cornices, ceilings, and floors all line up, but it could make a pretty spectacular guest house.
Ogle the floorplans here

Distinctive Homes

June 9, 2015

Jil Sander CEO’s 5th Avenue Apartment Gets an Ultra Minimalist Renovation by Thomas Phifer

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Jil Sander's CEO, Constance Darrow, and her husband, Angelo Lombardi, are constantly traveling between Milan and New York. But when they stay in the Big Apple they have a stunning, ultra contemporary space to rest their heads. Located in a prewar building on Fifth Avenue, the couple's love nest is a modern renovation by Thomas Phifer and Partners that opts for the scant over the ostentatious. Though living in such sparse quarters would make many feel uncomfortable, this space embodies a very powerful air by having almost nothing in it.
Learn more about this ultra minimal Fifth Avenue Apartment

Distinctive Homes

Three UES Townhouses List for $120M, Could Be Single-Family Mansion

12-16 East 62nd Street via NYDN

June 8, 2015

Three UES Townhouses List for $120M, Could Be Single-Family Mansion

Most of us can only dream of owning a townhouse on the Upper East Side, so the idea of having three of them seems downright silly. But that's exactly what's for sale on East 62nd Street–three adjacent townhouses that are being sold as a package deal for their potential to be combined into one giant, 30,000-square-foot mansion. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the $120 million listing, and the Daily News revealed that the billionaire Safra family, of Brazilian banking fame, is behind the company listed as the seller. Currently, the three limestone, six-story homes at 12, 14, and 16 East 62nd Street are divided into 13 apartments with one doorman, though they can be delivered vacant. Together they boast 23 fireplaces, 11 terraces, and two roof decks. What makes the trifecta perfect for a combination is the fact that the homes are pretty much identical, with their cornices, ceilings, and floors all lining up.
More details ahead

Distinctive Homes

June 8, 2015

No One Will Dare Challenge Your Throne in This $29M Palatial Pad

By Aisha Carter

Here's a particularly gaudy apartment for those who want to literally feel like a king and queen of their palace. This six-story, 13,000-square-foot mansion at 7 East 84th Street came on the market for the first time in almost two decades in 2013, asking $30 million. It appears that after two years and no takers, it has finally lowered the price by a whole million, landing at $29 million. It's appropriately located inside the Metropolitan Museum Historic District, so its statues must feel right at home. Plus, it has a temperature-controlled wine cellar and tasting room in the basement that looks like it's straight out of "Game of Thrones," so we had to take a look.
More pics inside

Distinctive Homes

May 28, 2015

Commissioner of Baseball Robert Manfred Buys $5.6M UES Penthouse