Raymond C. And Mildred Kramer House

October 18, 2019

William Lescaze’s modernist Upper East Side townhouse is back for a slightly reduced $19.5M

In 2013, the New York Times described the William Lescaze townhouse at 32 East 74th Street—one of the first modernist residences built in NYC—as being “just at the edge of passing from worn to shabby, waiting for a new owner to bring it back to flawlessness.” After years of being on and off the market, a new owner came into the picture in 2015, when he bought the property for $14.5 million and transformed it into a three-unit investment property. Lescaze designed the house for Raymond C. and Mildred Kramer in 1934, one year after completing a modernist home for himself at 211 East 48th Street. Both feature his characteristic use of white stucco and glass bricks. The landmarked exteriors have remained intact, but as 6sqft previously noted, the interiors have long shed any trace of Lescaze’s interior design. The transformed property was most recently on the market in 2017 with a $20 million ask and is now back for a slightly reduced $19.5 million.
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December 18, 2017

William Lescaze’s modernist Upper East Side townhouse asks $20 million after a gut reno

One of New York City's earliest modern residences, designed by architect William Lescaze on the Upper East Side, is searching for a new owner after a gut renovation. Known as the Raymond C. and Mildred Kramer House, after its first owners, it was built at 32 East 74th Street in 1934. Lescaze was a Swiss-born, American architect credited with pioneering modernism in America. He designed New York's first modernist home for himself in Midtown East (pictured to the right) one year prior to this uptown commission (pictured to the left). At 32 East 74th, any remnants of his interior design have mostly disappeared after years on and off the market. The current owner paid $14.5 million for it in 2015, gutted it, and re-listed it as an investment property holding three duplex rental units. As Curbed points out, it's now asking a cool $20 million.
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