Vivian Marino

NEW YORK — The grand Upper East Side town house where Fiorello La Guardia was sworn in as New York mayor in the 1930s, and where several prominent residents lived, including the architect who crafted the home from two rowhouses, is re-entering the market for the first time in more than a quarter century.

The asking price for this 32-foot-wide, five-story mansion at 154 E. 63rd St., between Lexington and Third avenues, is $21.8 million, according to Chris Kann of the Corcoran Group. (He is listing the property with his colleagues Robby Browne and Jennifer Ireland.) Annual property taxes are $136,039.

The 8,000-square-foot building, which also includes a rare two-car garage, is being sold by the estate of Diana King, a daughter of Charles King, the founder of King World Productions, which syndicated television hits like “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and “Jeopardy!” Diana King died in January at age 69.

She bought the house in 1992 for around $3.7 million and used it primarily as a pied-à-terre and meeting place for the charitable organization she set up in honor of her parents, the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation, according to Eugene V. Kokot, an executor of the estate and a foundation board member. Part of the proceeds from the sale, Kokot said, will go to the organization, which supports education in television and film production.

Over the years, King spent millions of dollars (Kokot couldn’t say exactly how much) restoring the town house’s early-20th-century grandeur. Throughout the house are elaborate crown and dentil moldings; floors of intricate inlaid wood; stained- and leaded-glass windows; custom wall and ceiling embellishments; and numerous built-ins and paneling.

There are also eight fireplaces, four kitchens (two are more like kitchenettes), two dining rooms, two solariums and more than a half-dozen salons, studies and sitting rooms, in addition to the four bedrooms, three full baths and four powder rooms.

“This home was made for entertaining,” Kann said of the sprawling space.

The house is a product of architect Frederick Sterner’s “block beautiful” makeovers of the early 1900s, which involved remodeling blocks of rundown buildings in Manhattan. In 1914, Sterner focused on 63rd Street, starting with what would become his own home and eventually King’s — No. 154. He joined two rowhouses, refaced the facades and added a fenced areaway, among other things. Four years later, he combined two buildings across the street, at No. 153. (Burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee lived there, and now filmmaker Spike Lee.) Architect F. Burrall Hoffman Jr., best known for designing the Villa Vizcaya estate in Miami, also worked on No. 154.

Other notable residents of No. 154 have included Samuel Seabury, a state judge who famously led the corruption investigations that ended Tammany Hall politics in New York City. La Guardia was sworn in for his first term as mayor in 1934 in Seabury’s paneled library on the second floor. A photo of the swearing-in ceremony is displayed there now.

The 63rd Street mansion, now part of the Upper East Side Historic District, is entered through a limestone gallery at the garden level. Near the entry is a small kitchen/butler’s pantry and a laundry room. The gallery leads to the first formal dining room, a massive space anchored by a wood-burning fireplace and with floors of mahogany, walnut and maple.

The room opens to a central courtyard, 24-by-25 feet, lined with tumbled marble. The area, with a mahogany bar and retractable awnings, is landscaped with boxwoods, ivy, hydrangea impatiens and dogwood trees. On the other side of the courtyard is a paneled great room with 19-foot ceilings, stained-glass windows and a gas fireplace. Both the dining room and great room can also be reached via a marble hallway with arched mirrors.

On the second level is a black granite kitchen with brass-railed countertops and banquette seating. It connects to a second formal dining room, which has printed linen wall coverings and a fireplace of Vermont green marble flanked by ornate wood relief sculptures. This floor also contains a sitting/reading room with an attached miniature solarium by Marston &amp; Langinger, and the paneled library.

The master suite and a guest bedroom with an en suite bath and cozy window seats encompass the third floor, where there are two more fireplaces.

“It’s like a chic European hotel,” Kann said.

Occupying the fourth floor is a separate apartment that Sterner created for his sister, Maude, who was an interior designer. It contains two sizable bedrooms, one and a half baths, a small kitchen and a large living room with a fireplace.

The top floor has another Marston &amp; Langinger solarium, along with a tiny kitchen, media room and study.

And for would-be buyers concerned about navigating this massive space, there is also an elevator to all five floors and the basement, in addition to two sets of stairs.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/10/realestate/for-sale-an-east-side-townhouse-with-a-history.html" id="19bb288a-bd4b-30de-a792-9b4cf44188b2">The New York Times</a>.

(Exclusive)

Manor Living on the Upper East Side

NEW YORK — Barbra Streisand’s former penthouse at the Ardsley, the grand, Emery Roth-designed apartment house across from Central Park, is back on the market.

The asking price for the unit, which occupies the top two floors of the 22-story art deco building at 320 Central Park West and 92nd Street, is $11.25 million, with $12,486 in monthly maintenance. Barbara Fox and Alexis Hilton Mintz of the Fox Residential Group are listing the property.

The current owners, Richard Prins and Connie Steensma, paid $4.25 million for the duplex in 2002, four years after Streisand placed it on the market for $10 million. It had lingered after the co-op board repeatedly rejected potential buyers, reportedly including Mariah Carey, who offered $8 million in cash.

Streisand moved to the Ardsley with her then-husband, actor Elliott Gould, in 1963. (The apartment had been occupied in the 1940s by lyricist Lorenz Hart, whose hits with Richard Rodgers included “Blue Moon.”) She and their son, Jason, remained there after her divorce from Gould in 1971, the same year the 1931 building converted to a co-op.

Prins, a partner at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher &amp; Flom, and Steensma, who ran a consulting firm before retiring, also raised their two sons, Richard and Mark, there. “We are very empty nesters now,” Steensma said, “and so it’s time to find something smaller.”

The sprawling apartment has about 3,600 square feet of interior space, with four bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths, along with a total of 2,500 square feet of terraces that offer views of the Central Park reservoir.

After the couple moved in, they made a few changes, like upgrading the electrical system and knocking down some walls to create a more open feel. “It was very closed up — every room was like it was from a different movie set,” Prins said. Many other parts of the apartment were kept the same, including the kitchen and bathrooms.

Throughout the home are herringbone oak floors, oversize windows and high ceilings (some rising 12 feet). The space is decorated in an eclectic mix of traditional and art deco furnishings.

The duplex is entered on the lower level via a private elevator bank. A spacious gallery opens to an enormous living room — big enough to comfortably fit a grand piano — with south-facing windows and a wood-burning fireplace of French Pyrenees marble (one of three working fireplaces). On one side of the living room is a formal dining area; on the other, a bedroom being used as an office that contains a 450-bottle wine closet. All three rooms and the gallery lead out to a wraparound terrace.

Off the dining room is a small, homey kitchen with a butler’s pantry, half bath and stacked washer-dryer. Little has changed since Streisand cooked there, Steensma acknowledged, although the couple did convert a maid’s room into an adjoining breakfast area. The space served as a popular hangout for their sons’ school friends, she said.

The northern end of the lower level has two more bedrooms and a family room that once housed Streisand’s hair salon. The couple installed a “secret door” through book shelves in that room, connecting to Steensma’s office, which features a fireplace of Makkum tile. Having the secret door, she said, allowed her to keep tabs on her sons and their friends while she was working.

On the top level is the master suite, which features an en suite bath with a dressing area, a fireplace with a marble surround and an entire wall dedicated to storage, which Streisand installed. The bedroom is flanked by two enormous terraces.

“We watched the marathon and New Year’s Eve fireworks every year,” said Prins, adding that he will miss spending time out on the terraces and hosting parties there.

Both he and Steensma have served on the boards of orchestra groups and have hosted numerous musical gatherings. The couple say they hope to remain on the Upper West Side; they also have a country home in the Hamptons.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/19/realestate/barbra-streisand-former-manhattan-penthouse-is-on-the-market-.html" id="0b86875c-5de9-31ba-ac8b-bad348739e7b">The New York Times</a>.

A Duplex Penthouse With Park Views on the Market for $11.25 Million

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Vivian Marino

Articles written by the author

Manor Living on the Upper East Side

A Duplex Penthouse With Park Views on the Market for $11.25 Million