From the NY Times:Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s town house at 17 East 79th Street is the epitome of Upper East Side elegance: five stories of flawless Beaux-Arts limestone with 7,500 square feet of exquisite living space, all within steps of Central Park.
The mayor’s town house, center, has expanded into the house at right.
But for the mayor, it seems, the house has been a bit cramped.
Over the past two decades, in transactions that have gone all but unnoticed, Mr. Bloomberg has been buying up space in the building next door, knocking down walls and combining two entire floors along the way. He now owns four of the six apartments at 19 East 79th Street, a white 1880 neo-Grec co-op town house.
The additions have made his home far roomier, giving him an estimated 12,500 square feet of living space; it would probably fetch more than $30 million, even in the current down market.
That's some bachelor pad. I like how he got the building violation while being mayor...
14 comments:
Living in a brownstone is not my idea of living large. I know they're expensive. But I've been in a few of them and I couldn't stand the layout.
italian girl never ceases to show her lack of sophistication. You do not think those gorgeous brownstones, with beautiful Beaux-Arts and Georgian style and interiors, limestone exteriors, steps away from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, and the Museum Mile, is "living large"?
Has anyone checked for DOB permits for the work being done there? Is everything in compliance? Is it on record?
OF COURSE, being steps away from Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, etc is AWESOME. And I wasn't speaking of the brownstone's interior or exterior. I just don't like the layout. I thought this was an opinion blog. Can I express my opinion? Is that allowed?
What "layout" common to all brownstones like the "few" you have been inside are you talking about? You don't like large rooms, high ceilings and staircases?
You can express your opinion all you want, but for your own good you should stick to things were you won't appear silly.
Dear Silly Yourself:
No, I don't like those long large rooms, the ceilings are way too high for my taste and I hate the never-ending stairs. And that tiny strip of land behind them overlooking some HUGE, ugly apartment building is not to my liking.
Sorry.
biggie smalls in the house again fighting with italian girl over his boss billionaireburg . biggie please get a life and stop harrassing the girl. whos your idol again anyway hiram
"Italian Girl" -Has a point.
I spent the first five years of my life in a townhouse on east 72nd street bet. Park & Madison aves.
Typically, these buildings are long, narrow and w/windows only at the ends leaving a somewhat dingy mid-section.
You have a minuscule backyard surrounded by tall buildings, you are sort-of in a pit.
This particular place had the luxury of a private elevator (which my Mother wouldn't ride) and D.C. electricity! -meaning no TV of hi-fi. Oh, and because we were so close to the park, we had an insoluble rat problem. One died somewhere in the interstitial spaces just in time to stink-up our Thanksgiving one year.
Townhouses do offer more space but unless you have the time, money and will to maintain them, they are a PIA. I'll take the light and view I have now.
biggie small is an ass hole a south salem loser
Note the first Anonymous' use of the term "sophistication". One more meaningless term used in this case to hurl an insult, while claiming to be a "better sort".
What requirement is there that anybody at all admire any brownstone?
Now the preferences that people have are a matter of "sophistication"?
Anonymous and his "sophisticated" ilk is a very insecure person. The type spends great amounts of time keeping up with the latest fad opinion. Always wants to know who is "in", who's "out". Wants the network anchors, NYT and other gossip columns to apprise him of the latest "approved" opinion to have on various topics.
Getting this sort of approval saves the time and effort of actually having an independent and creative thought. These types don't even really need any information at all about anything. They just need to memorize and parrot all the latest approved views. And, they must be careful about with whom they spend time. All associations must parrot the identical views. Otherwise, life is threatening and frightening.
The reason that someone like Anonymous freaks out upon noticing someone with an unapproved opinion is that he never knows if the other opinion may actually be the latest "approved" opinion, and he just missed out on the news of its approved existence. It's a genuine fear. Does Anonymous have the right clothes, car, residence, food, friends, subscriptions, movie attendance? Being identical really matters!
Something to do with the herd instinct; cattle, sheep, schools of sophisticated fish (they DO attend school, you know), and all the other very comfortable groupthink assemblies.
Usually, Anonymous and his ilk are leftists. That's because leftists are true collectivists. Leftists want everybody to think and behave identically; no deviations (deviates? Yes, just no deviations from the script).
Italian Girl, you are the sophisticated one here. You have a different opinion, state it, and defend it.
Here is the DOB link to Mayor Doomberg's living quarters...
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?boro=1&houseno=17&street=E+79th+st&requestid=0&s=A03C41B885B461E4F46BD08866A7430E
Location, location, location.
My wooden frame house in Woodside has the same width as a Manhattan brownstone.
But my property is better: it's detached.
Such town houses... sitting on a 20 foot wide city building lot (though richly appointed and solidly constructed)...are little more than Victorian row houses the type that Tommy Huang might have built if he were around 125 years ago!
I'll take one of those earlier free standing mansions that used to line Fifth Avenue before they were torn down....any day!
FYI...
Edith Wharton, author of
"The Age of Innocence"
referred to brownstone as,
"...the most hideous stone ever quarried..."!
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