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    Baz Luhrmann Just Relisted His Dramatic N.Y.C. Townhouse for $16 Million

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    Baz Luhrmann’s New York City townhouse is back on the market, but you might not recognize it.  

    The Hollywood filmmaker and his wife, costume designer Catherine Martin, have treated the stately Manhattan residence to an epic makeover and relisted it for just under $16 million. The palatial pad was first listed for $20 million in March 2022, then returned to the market in September 2023 with a price tag of $18 million. (In between, an unnamed tenant rented the house for a whopping $75,000 a month.) The current asking price seems like a bargain, then.

    “Whether you are looking for a home to entertain like Gatsby, or a tranquil and private abode to unwind and relax, No. 243 provides a unique opportunity to acquire a rare and significant piece of New York City real estate,” the Corcoran Group writes. 

    A formal dining room is located on the garden level.

    Nina Poon for Corcoran

    The Luhrmann’s have actually been working on the Stuyvesant Park brownstone for quite some time. The couple originally bought the 8,500-square-foot property in 2017 for $13.5 million. Two years later, they gave the place a makeover so impressive (and so massive) that it earned a spot in Robb Report’s annual Best of the Best issue. The five-story home was recently transformed from top to bottom by New York-based Interior Marketing Group. The historic Anglo-Italianate abode features six bedrooms, five full bathrooms, two powder rooms, an ivy-clad backyard, and an elevator. Highlights include soaring 16-foot ceilings, arched doorways, original moldings, five fireplaces, and a grand floating staircase.

    The primary suite has a private terrace.

    Nina Poon for Corcoran

    On the main parlor level, full-length windows and a cast-iron Juliet balcony overlook the park. To the rear, the primary suite is equipped with an en suite, a huge walk-in closet, and a private terrace. Elsewhere, the 28-foot-wide townhouse sports a Clive Christian-designed kitchen with top-of-the-line appliances from Viking and Sub-Zero, marble countertops, and painted pine cabinets.

    Down below, the basement is configured as a media room where you can perhaps screen one of the Tony Award-winning director’s famous flicks. Speaking of which, the uppermost floor used to be occupied by renowned jazz tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan and later served as Luhrmann’s studio where he’s said to have penned the script for Elvis. The floor is now set up as a standalone one-bedroom, one-bathroom suite with a living room, a bar, and a gym. Talk about theatrical charm.

    Broker Steve Gold of the Corcoran Group holds the listing. 

    Click here to see more photos of Baz Luhrmann’s townhouse. 

    Nina Poon for Corcoran

     

    Authors

    Abby Montanez

    Abigail Montanez is a staff writer at Robb Report. She has worked in both print and digital publishing for over half a decade, covering everything from real estate, entertainment, dining, travel to…

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      An Emmy-Winning TV Host Is Selling Her N.Y.C. Townhouse for $25 Million

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      Emmy Award-winning TV host and producer Yue-Sai Kan has been at the helm of hit shows including Looking East, and now she’s put her longtime New York City townhouse back up for sale. Kan, who’s earned the title “Oprah of China,” is also a bestselling author and beauty mogul.

      Located on the Upper East Side, the six-story spread is nestled within the affluent Sutton Place neighborhood—one of the most exclusive enclaves in all of Manhattan. The historic residence is asking just shy of $25 million, which is $5 million less than the pad was listed for last year. According to The Wall Street Journal, Kan originally bought the place back in 1989 for $4.5 million. The home was previously owned by Peter Sprague, the former co-owner of Aston Martin, and also by the late literary editor Jean Stein. 

      The rooftop terrace overlooks the East River.

      Allan Pollack

      Altogether, the 8,500-square-foot property measures 33 feet wide and comprises a whopping seven bedrooms and six full bathrooms. Over the last 35 years, the red brick abode has been through several renovations. The most recent update was completed in 2015 and resulted in a brand-new rooftop terrace with an outdoor kitchen, perfect for entertaining or taking in the views of the East River.  

      “When you walk in the house, you immediately feel comfortable energy. In Chinese it means very good feng shui,” Kan told The New York Post. “In numerology, six is the luckiest number. It’s the planet of Jupiter which is the planet of luck and abundance. This could be why it has been a good house for me. Since I lived in the house, my business just flew off the chart.” 

      A gold mural of a dragon is painted on the ceiling of the library.

      Allan Pollack

      Inside, the Neo-Georgian building is brimming with style and flooded with natural light thanks to an abundance of oversized windows. The foyer sports a carved teak door and marble mosaic floors, while a gold dragon mural embellishes the ceiling in the library. Other highlights include a formal sitting room and a mahogany-clad formal dining room that both open to a garden-level terrace, and a 32-foot-long grand salon with a fireplace on the third floor. Elsewhere, the spacious primary suite occupies the entire fifth floor and is decked out with a sitting area, a fitted dressing room (plus a walk-in closet), and a spa area complete with a sauna and a morning bar. A tiny elevator services all six floors, plus the basement.

      The best perk in a city where most people are starved for outdoor space, however, is that 6 Sutton Square is one of just 14 neighboring townhouses that have shared access to Jones Wood Garden, a 12,000-square-foot private park. “This is an amazing amenity that is not available anywhere else,” Sonia Bendt of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New York Properties told The Post. “The open vistas of the East River and bridge are magical.” 

      Click here to see all the photos of Yue-Sai Kan’s N.Y.C. townhouse.

      Allan Pollack

      Authors

      Abby Montanez

      Abigail Montanez is a staff writer at Robb Report. She has worked in both print and digital publishing for over half a decade, covering everything from real estate, dining, travel and topics…

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      A Fashion Designer Seeks to Sew Up a $6 Million Deal for a 19th-Century Townhouse in Brooklyn

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      Darryl Kerrigan, more familiarly known to the sartorially inclined as Daryl K, helped to define the lower Manhattan fashion scene during much of the 1990s with her effortless, rock-and-roll-inspired looks and signature stretch leather leggings that she first hawked from a tiny shop on East Sixth Street and then, until 2012, from a larger Bond Street boutique. 

      Like droves of downtown hipsters in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Kerrigan and her partner Paul Leonard, both born and raised in Ireland, decamped their “unfancy East Village loft” and moved to Brooklyn, where records show Kerrigan acquired a 19th-century townhouse in the Boerum Hill neighborhood in 2000. The townhouse is now on the market for $6 million, down from the $6.5 million that was initially asked for. Terry Naini and Emila Sultan of Brown Harris Stevens hold the listing.

      The State Street townhouse is fronted by a classic raised-stoop entrance.

      Stefano Ukmar for Brown Harris Stevens

      The handsome brick townhouse, part of the State Street Houses National Register Historic District, dates to the late 1800s and stands four stories atop a full basement with an embellished metal cornice and a classic raised-stoop entrance. Easily used as a single-family home, the property is zoned as a two-family residence, with a garden-level apartment below a spacious three-bedroom and two-and-a-half-bath triplex. (The upper-level triplex was available for rent last year, first at $22,500 per month and then later at $18,500 per month.)

      The upper three floors feature tons of period details, including the original staircase, crown moldings, and wood floors, with parquet throughout the parlor floor and wide planks on the upper levels. There are six vintage marble mantels, two of which can be wood burning. The classic raised-stoop entrance leads to a lengthy foyer, a 25-foot-long living room, and an eat-in kitchen.

      There are three bedrooms, plus a small study with a bay window; the primary suite occupies the entire top floor and stretches more than 42 feet end to end with numerous closets and a vintage-style updated bathroom. 

      The eat-in kitchen features original parquet flooring and a view into the rear garden.

      Stefano Ukmar for Brown Harris Stevens

      The garden-level apartment can be accessed from within the triplex unit but can also operate as an independent two-bedroom and one-bath rental or guest apartment with a private outside entrance, an open-plan great room and kitchen, and French doors to a 40-foot-deep garden.

      Kerrigan moved to New York in the mid-1980s and soon began designing costumes for Jim Jarmusch’s films, including “My Cousin Vinny,” starring Marisa Tomei. Though she closed her boutique back in 2012, she has collaborated with mainstream brands like Urban Outfitters, Calvin Klein, and Madewell. She also continues to sell her own designs through her Daryl K website.

      Click here for more photos of 324 State Street.

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      Rex Tillerson Seeks $6.5 Million Deal for an Elegant Washington, D.C., Townhouse

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      When veteran oil and gas man Rex Tillerson went to Washington, D.C., to serve as the 69th U.S. secretary of state under former president Donald Trump, the cowboy boot-wearing Texan dropped $5.5 million on an 1920s-era townhouse in the prestigious Kalorama neighborhood.

      The former Exxon Mobile CEO’s tenure as secretary of state was tumultuous and short, barely more than a year, and in the years after his unceremonious dismissal in March of 2018 (he claims he found out he was fired by a tweet!), he and the former president traded insults in the media. But it’s only now, some six years later, that Tillerson and his wife Renda have put their stately four-floor D.C. home on the market. The $6.5 million price buys more than 5,700 square feet of traditional elegance with three (and potentially four) bedrooms and three bathrooms, plus three more powder rooms.

      The listing is held by Mark McFadden and Hunter McFadden at Compass.

      The 1920s residence stands four floors above the tree-lined street.

      Carlo Russo with HD Bros

      A few heads of state and untold numbers of West Wing movers and shakers no doubt passed under the front door’s carved stone pediment and made their way to the ground-floor library for a private tête a tête or perhaps took the whimsically muraled elevator to the parlor level, where a spacious fireside living room has three huge windows overlooking the street and the adjacent dining room is lit by a delicate Venetian glass chandelier. Elsewhere, the parlor floor includes an up-to-date kitchen with a pantry large enough to accommodate a desk and a family room.

      The Texas-sized primary suite sits on the third floor and includes several mirrored wardrobes, a couple of fitted walk-in closets, a separate dressing room, and a large, compartmentalized marble bathroom. A cozy study that features custom built-ins and paisley wall coverings completes the third floor, while two more bedrooms on the uppermost floor each have an ensuite bath.

      Back on the ground floor, along with an oversized laundry room and a dedicated office with built-in desk space, there’s an airy lounge that opens the courtyard-style back garden. A lower terrace alongside the detached two-car garage includes a built-in barbecue for summertime grilling and chilling.

      A cozy study wrapped in paisley wallpaper includes a floor-to-ceiling bank of custom built-ins.

      Carlo Russo with HD Bros

      Kalorama, aka the Beverly Hills of Washington, D.C., is cheek-to-jowl with foreign embassies and luxury homes owned by some of the most influential and powerful people in the country and the world, including Jeff Bezos, the Obamas, Fox News anchorman Chris Wallace, and one of Washington’s most beloved and famous hostesses, philanthropist Esther Coopersmith.

      The Tillersons have long made their primary home in Fort Worth, Texas, where records indicate they still own a 5,400-square-foot home bought in 2014 near the swanky River Crest Country Club. However, they substantially upsized in 2019 with the purchase of a 16,000-square-foot mansion that had been custom-built for Major League Baseball great Vernon Wells in the nearby suburban town of Westlake.

      Click here for more photos of Rex Tillerson’s home in Washington, D.C.

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      A London Townhouse Once Owned by the Manager of The Beatles Just Listed for $10.6 Million

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      Not only did Brian Epstein launch The Beatles into superstardom, he also offered up his home in London as a hideout for the Fab Four to escape their hordes of screaming fans. Fast forward to today, and the late manager’s Mayfair townhouse has hit the market for £8.75 million (or roughly $10.7 million).

      The Grade II-listed Georgian dwelling measures 3,800 square feet and features five bedrooms plus an adjoining mews house. The latter is connected to the main house through the basement and is where Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr used to hang. It’s also believed to be the place where they worked on their eighth studio album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

      Originally built in the 1750s, Epstein acquired the swank abode in the 1960s as his private residence. He later turned the townhouse into an early version of the Apple Corps headquarters before he died of an accidental overdose in 1967. Following Epstein’s passing, the residence was purchased by author and politician Norman St John-Stevas, Lord St John of Fawsley, a close advisor to Margaret Thatcher.

      The Beatles used to hide out and hang out in the home’s adjoining mews house.

      Wetherell

      “This Charles Street townhouse and mews was the Mayfair base of two famous showmen, firstly Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who allowed the Fab Four to use the mews as their bolthole, and later Norman St John-Stevas, one of British politics’ most colorful characters,” explains Peter Wetherell, founder and executive chairman of Wetherell, in a press statement. 

      The Charles Street townhouse dates to the 1750s.

      Wetherell

      The 18th-century pad spans six floors and was designed by master carpenter John Phillips. On the outside, you’ll find tons of period details like a slate roof, sash windows, and wrought-iron railings. Internally, the reception spaces are decked out with parquet flooring, fireplaces, plaster paneling, and gilded ceiling motifs. The various living and entertaining spaces include a drawing room, a home office, a modern kitchen, and a roof terrace. Fun fact: Lennon once tagged the kitchen tiles with graffiti, but they were later removed and sold at auction. 

      “It is extremely rare to find a Grade II listed townhouse in the heart of Mayfair that has not only retained so many wonderful traditional Georgian features but comes with its original mews house intact and several private outdoor spaces,” adds Wetherell. 

      Click here to see all the photos of Brian Epstein’s Charles Street townhouse. 

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      Menswear Mogul Mortimer Levitt’s Manhattan Townhouse Hits the Market for $12.5 Million

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      Fashion businessman Mortimer Levitt built a menswear empire, so it’s no surprise his former Manhattan townhouse is bursting with style.  

      The home of the late clothier has been hoisted onto the market, listed for $12.5 million with Ian Slater and Alex Antigua of Compass. The palatial Upper East Side pad sits down the block from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park. Originally built in 1910, the 113-year-old property spans five stories and measures a whopping 5,737 square feet. In case you were looking for something bigger (and taller), the spread also comes with an extra 2,200 square feet of unused air rights—so the sky’s really the limit. 

      The late Mortimer Levitt’s New York City townhouse is up for sale.

      Michael Parks / DD-reps

      Altogether, the abode comprises six or potentially seven bedrooms, five bathrooms, and two powder rooms. Everything about the place feels inviting, from its soaring 12-foot ceilings, arched windows, and stately fireplaces. On the garden level, you’ll find a large chef’s kitchen, a butler’s pantry, and a formal dining room. One of the standout perks here is that you’ll have access to a private garden. Upstairs, the parlor floor is flooded with sunlight and would be perfect for throwing a chic soirée. In fact, according to the Washington Post, Levitt and his wife, Mimi, used to host musicals at this very townhouse. 

      The five-story townhouse was originally built in 1910 and features arched windows and stately fireplaces.

      Michael Parks / DD-reps

      Levitt, who established the Custom Shop in 1937, died in 2005 at the age of 98 at his home in Connecticut. The business had over 60 branches before he sold it in 1997 and was best known for creating made-to-measure shirts that were sported by celebs, business execs, and political figures alike. In addition to having a passion for fashion, Levitt was also the founder of the Manhattan Theatre Club and chairman of the board of Young Concert Artists for over 25 years. 

      Click here to see all the photos of Mortimer Levitt’s former Manhattan townhouse.  

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      Late Fashion Designer Oleg Cassini’s Manhattan Home Hits the Market for $14 Million

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      It’s been more than 50 years since Oleg Cassini’s Manhattan home was last on the market. Now, the late fashion designer’s elegant townhouse can be yours for a cool $14 million.  

      The lavish Gramercy Park abode, also known as the Joseph B. Thomas House, is one of New York City’s last remaining architecturally significant townhouses up for private sale, Bloomberg first reported. Dating back to the 17th century, the home was originally built in Amsterdam, and in 1845, it was dismantled and shipped to the Upper West Side. The home was moved again in 1910 to its coveted spot on East 19th Street, where it was completed by British architect Frederick J. Sterner.

      Late designer Oleg Cassini’s N.Y.C. townhouse is up for sale.

      Tim Waltman of Evan Joseph Studio

      Sporting a Gothic style, the five-story dwelling is “somewhere in the middle of a castle, a mansion, a townhouse, and a church or synagogue,” Compass agent Jim St. André, who holds the listing together with colleague Peter Gordenstein, told Bloomberg. Outside, you’ll find gargoyles on the façade, along with stained-glass windows and decorative stone inlays. Internally, the aesthetic continues with a soaring seven-foot fireplace, dark wood paneling, and ornate plasterwork. 

      The massive foyer is decked out with Flemish-patterned stone flooring, while the two-story great room features a barrel-vaulted ceiling. From here, you can step into a stunning, sun-drenched solarium. Altogether, the 7,000-square-foot property comprises six bedrooms, five-and-a-half baths, a gourmet chef’s kitchen with a dumbwaiter, a formal dining room, and a wine cellar.

      The century-old home has tons of Gothic details like stained-glass windows

      Tim Waltman of Evan Joseph Studio

      Cassini, best known as a dressmaker for Jackie Kennedy, died from a stroke in 2006. Following his passing, the townhouse became the subject of a bitter estate dispute between his widow and grandchildren. The current owners, who bought the palatial pad at auction for $5 million last year, chose to rehab some of the existing elements before deciding to sell. “Someone will walk in the door, feel a connection to the property, and want to use or rehabilitate and restore what’s here,” added St. André.

      Click here to see all the photos of Oleg Cassini’s Manhattan townhouse. 

      Tim Waltman of Evan Joseph Studio More