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    Joan Rivers Called This Opulent Manhattan Penthouse Home. Now It Can Be Yours for $28 Million.

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    A little more than a decade after Joan Rivers passed away at age 81, the legendary comedian’s opulent Versailles-inspired penthouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan has once again popped up for sale, asking $28 million.

    Rivers acquired the 42-foot-wide spread in 1988 about a year after the death of her husband Edgar Rosenberg and lived there until she died in 2014, according to the New York Post. The property then sold around a year later for $28 million to Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Fahd Al Saud, who first hoisted the place on the market in 2021 for $38 million before subsequently reducing the price and then temporarily removing it from the listings in 2023.

    A blush-hued breakfast room holds court near the galley-style kitchen.

    The Real Estate Production Network

    RELATED: A Gold Dome Caps This $25 Million Manhattan Penthouse Being Sold for Charity

    Sited within the six-story, pre-war Spencer Condominium, which was designed by noted architect Horace Trumbauer in the early 1900s, the French Neoclassical-style triplex rests on the top three floors of the limestone building. Five bedrooms and six baths are spread across nearly 4,700 square feet largely original but modernized interiors boasting Parquet de Versailles floors, 23-foot ceilings, crystal chandeliers, and ornate moldings. There are also five wood-burning fireplaces, plus a couple of stone terraces offering skyline and Central Park views.

    A cozy library/media room is lined with built-in bookshelves.

    The Real Estate Production Network

    RELATED: Judge Judy’s Stylish N.Y.C. Penthouse Is Up for Grabs at $9.5 Million

    Other highlights include a private elevator landing that opens into a double-height entrance gallery before flowing to an expansive Louis XIV-inspired ballroom lined with floor-to-ceiling windows. Elsewhere are a formal dining room adorned with 18th-century French panels and a handsome wood-clad library/media room, as well as an upstairs primary suite hosting a corner office and a spa-like bath equipped with dual vanities and a glass-encased shower. A separate two, bedroom, two-bath guest wing on the lower level has its own fireside living room and kitchen.

    Per the listing held by Zina Raslan and Carl Gambino of The Gambino Group at Compass, a hefty $21,068 monthly common charge also avails the new owner of a full-time doorman.

    Click here for more photos of Joan Rivers’s longtime Manhattan home.

    The Real Estate Production Network

    Authors

    Wendy Bowman

    Wendy Bowman is a real estate writer at Robb Report. Before that, she was a freelancer for Modern Luxury and several other media outlets, where she primarily covered luxury properties for…

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      Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s Manhattan Pied-à-Terre Can Be Yours for $10 Million

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      One of Hollywood’s most successful and enduring couples, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, long made their home on a 6.8-acre spread in Westport, Connecticut. For decades, they also maintained a penthouse pied-à-terre that Woodward, sixteen years after Newman’s death, has just hoisted onto the market for $9.95 million. Maintenance charges tally up to more than $13,000 per month, according to listings held by Noble Black and Jennifer Stillman of Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

      According to The New York Times, the couple acquired the penthouse in the early 1980s and used it for weeks-long stays in the city and for entertaining prominent, high-powered friends such as Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Tom Cruise, Cher, and Harry Belafonte. The sale is being handled by the couple’s children on behalf of Woodward, who largely retreated from public life after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2007. Carefully maintained but not updated much in recent years, the top-floor spread retains original prewar features like nearly 11-foot ceilings, herringbone wood floors, a wood-burning fireplace, and decorative wood moldings and built-ins.

      RELATED: This $20 Million Manhattan Penthouse Is Perched Atop the Tallest Residential Tower on Fifth Avenue

      Newman was a skilled jazz and blues pianist who kept a grand piano in the living room.

      Evan Joseph Studios

      The apartment is one of two penthouses atop a handsome, J.E.R. Carpenter-designed limestone-clad building, which was completed in 1925 and stands at the corner of East 93rd Street and Fifth Avenue across from the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. One of the more distinguished cooperative apartment houses on Fifth Avenue, other notable residents over the years include another entertainment industry couple who have been married for decades, Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan, and James Gorman, the former CEO of Morgan Stanley, who will become chairman of The Walt Disney Company next year.

      Essentially set up as a one-bedroom apartment with two bathrooms and a powder room, the penthouse pad spans about 3,000 square feet. Two terraces add another 2,300 square feet of space, one east-facing with sweeping sunrise views over Central Park and the other with north, west and south city and sunset views. 

      Newman, a racecar driver as well as a skilled pianist, once kept a grand piano in the 36-foot-long living room that has a fireplace at one end and a hidden walk-in dry bar at the other. The adjacent dining room has a wall of built-in shelves, while the kitchen is functional if quite dated with tile that dates to the 1980s. The service areas around the kitchen include a butler’s pantry, a breakfast room with terrace access and a spacious laundry room.

      The dining room features original wood moldings and built-ins.

      Evan Joseph Studios

      RELATED: The 25 Most Expensive Homes in the World for Sale

      Off the foyer is a study that can be used as a second bedroom, while the spacious primary suite is a combination of two smaller bedrooms. There are two walk-in closets, a tiled bathroom and access to a huge wrap-around terrace. Woodward owns a separate two-bedroom apartment on the ground floor, which was used as an office, gym and guest space, and is reported to be available for purchase separately. 

      Newman and Woodward are show business legends with storied careers and long lists of accolades. Between them they received 15 Academy Award nominations. Woodward took home a best actress award for the 1957 film The Three Faces of Eve, while Newman won his best actor trophy for Martin Scorsese’s 1986 movie “The Color of Money” and was also honored with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1994.

      Click here for more photos of the Fifth Avenue apartment.

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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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      in Luxury

      Hedge Funder George Hall’s Manhattan Townhouse Hits the Market Again at a Discounted $25 Million

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      A stately townhouse on New York City’s Upper East Side has once again surfaced for sale. Tucked away in the Lenox Hill neighborhood, just steps from Fifth Avenue and Central Park, the sprawling brick and limestone residence is now listed for a speck under $25 million—or a hefty $12.5 million less than its owner, hedge fund mogul George E. Hall, first wanted for the place back in 2017.

      The founder and CEO of Clinton Group, a Manhattan-based investment firm that managed approximately $6 billion in capital in 2016, purchased the classic Neo-Federal mansion for $11.5 million in 2002. So, despite the significant reduction, he still stands to make an impressive profit if the place sells for anywhere close to its current asking price.

      A sitting room is the perfect spot for enjoying cocktails before or after dinner.

      Jonathan Ayala

      Built and designed in 1887 by architect John H. Duncan—designer of Grant’s Tomb in Riverside Park, and the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch in Grand Army Plaza—the six-story structure clocks in at 25 feet wide, and features seven bedrooms and an equal number of baths in 12,000 square feet of elegant living space boasting rich hardwood floors, decorative ceilings, several wood-burning fireplaces and an elevator to all levels.

      Touted in marketing materials as “a piece of New York’s historic Gold Coast,” the property is highlighted by a parlor level hosting a formal living room equipped with an ornate fireplace and wet bar, as well as a lounge area and gilded powder room adorned with a custom pink marble vanity.

      An expansive north-facing living room boasts a fireplace and wall of windows.

      Jonathan Ayala

      A chandelier-topped dining room on the parlor level features a butler’s pantry and service staircase leading to a garden-level kitchen, which is outfitted with checkerboard tile floors, an eat-in island, top-tier stainless appliances, a walk-in pantry, breakfast nook and access to a backyard garden; and tucked away on the third floor is a wood-paneled library warmed by a fireplace, and sporting a bar bedecked with polished black-and-white marble countertops complemented by crystal cabinetry.

      A wallpapered formal dining room has a butler’s pantry and service stairs leading to the main kitchen below.

      Jonathan Ayala

      Occupying the entire fourth floor is a plush primary bedroom that comes complete with yet another fireplace and a sky-lit sunroom that connects to an expansive terrace, along with a dressing room, two walk-in closets, and luxe marble-clad bath hosting dual vanities, a soaking tub and separate shower.

      Rounding out the listing, which is held by Matt Bajek, Tiana Taylor and Eddie Feltes Shapiro of NestSeekers International, is a fifth-floor media/playroom, an office, staff quarters and a full basement with its own entrance. More

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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.  

      Michael Parks / DD-reps More