good story. that arguably nyc's most desirable neighborhood. here are some beekman place imamges. more :
"It's always been hard to sell architectural heroism to Manhattan's millionaires, whose tastes tend to run more toward lacquered preservationism. "Most people who are in the market," says Stribling's Tim Desmond, "want traditional details." That's why it took two years to unload Paul Rudolph's intricately renovated house at 23 Beekman Place (Sotheby's Fred Williams sold it for $5.5 million). "There are clear floors and spaces that interconnect and overlap," Williams says, and potential buyers "were literally crawling on their hands and knees because they were fearful of falling down." Selling such a place "is a bit more like marketing a piece of art." Maybe that's why art dealer Anthony d'Offay is having Christie's auction off his 1950 Japanese-in-metal house at 242 East 52nd Street (it was built for the Rockefellers by Philip Johnson, who acknowledges that it "would make a wonderful office"). Architect Edward Durell Stone's 1956 "neo-Baroque" 130 East 64th Street house was also a tough sale. The concrete façade was taken down by his widow, then rebuilt by order of the Landmarks Preservation Commission before it could be sold last year for $2.3 million. "Atypical" houses, says Sharon E. Baum of Corcoran, who sold it, "take longer to sell, but people like buying something that's a name property." In 1997, Desmond sold another Rudolph brainchild, 251 West 13th Street, for $1.95 million to TV writer Tom Fontana. Fontana spent two years and $1.7 million de-geniusing it ("The place was ridiculous," he told the Times). Even if the Beekman buyers' 5-year-old is terrified of the cliff-hanging Jacuzzi, their broker, Douglas Elliman's Jan Hashey, says their renovation "more or less consists of a quart of Windex and paper towels."
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"It's always been hard to sell architectural heroism to Manhattan's millionaires, whose tastes tend to run more toward lacquered preservationism. "Most people who are in the market," says Stribling's Tim Desmond, "want traditional details." That's why it took two years to unload Paul Rudolph's intricately renovated house at 23 Beekman Place (Sotheby's Fred Williams sold it for $5.5 million). "There are clear floors and spaces that interconnect and overlap," Williams says, and potential buyers "were literally crawling on their hands and knees because they were fearful of falling down." Selling such a place "is a bit more like marketing a piece of art." Maybe that's why art dealer Anthony d'Offay is having Christie's auction off his 1950 Japanese-in-metal house at 242 East 52nd Street (it was built for the Rockefellers by Philip Johnson, who acknowledges that it "would make a wonderful office"). Architect Edward Durell Stone's 1956 "neo-Baroque" 130 East 64th Street house was also a tough sale. The concrete façade was taken down by his widow, then rebuilt by order of the Landmarks Preservation Commission before it could be sold last year for $2.3 million. "Atypical" houses, says Sharon E. Baum of Corcoran, who sold it, "take longer to sell, but people like buying something that's a name property." In 1997, Desmond sold another Rudolph brainchild, 251 West 13th Street, for $1.95 million to TV writer Tom Fontana. Fontana spent two years and $1.7 million de-geniusing it ("The place was ridiculous," he told the Times). Even if the Beekman buyers' 5-year-old is terrified of the cliff-hanging Jacuzzi, their broker, Douglas Elliman's Jan Hashey, says their renovation "more or less consists of a quart of Windex and paper towels."
- bill 1-16-2005 7:07 pm