Talk show host Graham Norton’s ‘jewel box’ carriage house on a secret Murray Hill mews asks $5.6M
Photo courtesy of MW Studio for Corcoran
The tiny, close-ended Sniffen Court Mews in the midst of Manhattan’s Murray Hill neighborhood is magical even without celebrity cachet. It’s one of the city’s smallest historic districts, one of those NYC places where you feel like you’ve completely stepped away from the city altogether. Irish comedian and talk show host Graham Norton’s carriage house at 6 Sniffen Court is one of 10 former horse stables built on the mews during the Civil War. Asking $5,595,000, the home is described by Norton in a New York Times feature as a “jewel box of a carriage house.” The 20-foot-wide home’s interiors aren’t the slightest bit old-fashioned: A fabulous renovation by Gachot Studio and a landscaped roof deck are a design-lover’s dream within this private paradise.
As the Times reports, the carriage house is the former home of model Claudia Schiffer, who sold it to Norton, who hosts the BBC’s “The Graham Norton Show.” Norton had planned to retire in NYC, but a marriage to Jono McLeod, a Scottish filmmaker, in 2022, took those plans back overseas.
The compact 2,500-square-foot carriage house has two bedrooms and a 465-square-foot rooftop deck. The above-mentioned renovation added central AC and custom lighting and window treatments.
The home’s main living and entertaining space is a dramatic great room with 15-foot ceilings and floors of chevron-patterned oak, anchored by a lilac stone fireplace and a wide window overlooking the picturesque mews. High above, a clerestory window spans the width of the house for daily sunlight and sunsets.
Adjacent to the great room, a cozy library is lined with bookshelves. The dining room is a gem on its own, with flame-lacquered walls and ceiling. The windowed kitchen has stainless steel countertops and custom millwork. A dramatic marble-accented powder room completes this floor.
A staircase rises above the great room to the second level. Here you’ll find a guest bedroom with a marble-clad ensuite bath. On the third floor is the primary bedroom suite, offering another marble bath and a kitchenette/morning bar with a cozy banquette by the window. A separate sitting room and home office overlook the verdant mews beyond.
Up a few stairs is a dreamy landscaped roof deck. There’s plenty of room for dining and entertaining, surrounded by perimeter hedges.
The Sniffen Court Mews, just off East 36th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues, is a secluded alley lined with two-story brick stables built in 1864 in the early Romanesque Revival style. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated Sniffen Court as a city historic district in 1966; the district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
In addition to having been home to Schiffer and Norton, Sniffen Court has a rich cultural and celebrity-studded history. Two of the former stables have been owned by the Amateur Comedy Club and used as their clubhouse and theater since 1918. Sculptors Malvina Hoffman and Harriet Whitney Frishmuth had studios here. Composer Cole Porter once owned two residences at Sniffen Court; author Pearl Buck lived in one of the homes, as did musician Lenny Kravitz. Sniffen Court is also the backdrop pictured on the cover of The Doors’ 1967 album, “Strange Days.”
[Listing details: 6 Sniffen Court at CityRealty]
[At The Corcoran Group by Chris Kann]
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