An elaborately decorated New York townhouse that the owner has been trying to sell for 17 years has gotten another major price chop.
The townhouse, located at 163 E. 64th St. on the Upper East Side, has long been nicknamed the “Versailles of Manhattan.” The owner, famed commercial broker Ken Laub, first put the property on the market in 2003, then raised the price to $35 million in 2007, the New York Post reported.
Now it’s back for half of that price at $17.5 million.
By Manhattan standards, the townhouse is huge — 20-feet wide, 8,000 square feet, six bedrooms and five bathrooms. It was built in 1872 by architect John Prague and is modeled after the European courts of La Belle Époque and Louis XIV.
Mahogany doors and carved wood panels grace rooms full of rich carpets, intricate drapes and 19th-century paintings in gilded frames. But while stunning to look at, the home’s museum-style interior can be overwhelming for a new owner and an expensive renovation should they decide to change it.
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Elizabeth Sample and Brenda Powers of Sotheby’s International Realty are the listing agents representing the sale this time around. Laub, who is known for brokering iconic properties like the first World Trade Center, reportedly bought the townhouse in 1986 for $4 million.
After the 2007 asking price of $35 million received no takers, Laub has been re-listing it with different agencies ever since. It was on the market for $19.75 million in 2018, $25 million in 2017 and $29.95 million in 2011. As a result, some real estate insiders have estimated that no Manhattan property has been up for sale for longer.
“It begs the question: Do you even want to sell?” a broker told the New York Post in 2017. “If you don’t think you’ll ever be OK with what somebody’s going to spend . . . you shouldn’t be wasting the brokers’ time or your own time.”
