Two Dakota neighbors seek a $20.5M buyer to restore their apartment pair to its original splendor

Just listed at the venerable Dakota at 1 West 72nd Street–with over 85 feet of Central Park views–is an opportunity to combine two apartments and re-create the gilded-age grandeur of a front-facing corner residence. 6sqft recently covered a beautifully-preserved eight-room co-op in the building, on the market for the first time in 50 years, asking $12.5 million. Now, the owners of that unit and the apartment next door are offering the rare pair for $20.5 million, in hopes that a deep-pocketed buyer will combine the two and enjoy the original 4,800 square-foot home as it was created in 1884 (h/t WSJ).

According to the listing, the real estate reunion could be achieved by restoring the original 17-foot-by-15-foot entrance gallery. The combo would consist of 11 rooms including large and gracious entertaining rooms and five bedrooms with almost 100 feet of park frontage.

Both apartments are loaded with original details including ceilings that rise to over 13 feet, five wood-burning fireplaces, four sets of massive mahogany pocket doors and plaster and mahogany moldings.

The Henry J. Hardenbergh-designed building (he would later design the Plaza Hotel), completed in 1884, was one of the city’s first luxury apartment buildings, meant to entice wealthy residents from their townhouses with an elevator and grand, house-like apartments. In the post-WWII years, the sprawling spaces were divided to address the era’s dire housing shortage, but a recent trend toward combining large homes in the city’s luxurious historic buildings has resulted in more opportunities like this one.

Home to notables past and present from John Lennon and Yoko Ono to Lauren Bacall and Joe Namath, the landmarked icon boasts a gaslit entry, a center courtyard and legendary levels of privacy, service, and security. On the modern side of things, a brand new fitness facility will be ready in early 2018.

[Listing: 1 West 72nd Street #30/32 by John Burger for Brown Harris Stevens]

[At CityRealty]

RELATED: 

• Preserved Dakota apartment hits the market for the first time in 50 years, asking $12.5M
• After a colorful makeover and price chops, Judy Garland’s former Dakota co-op finds a $10M buyer
• Tribeca Film Festival co-founders cut the price of their massive Dakota pad to $25M
• Preserved Dakota apartment of late ‘All in the Family’ actor Carroll O’Connor sells for $2.8M

Images courtesy of Brown Harris Stevens.