A New York townhouse that musician Bob Dylan and author E.B. White once called home has hit the market for $7.2 million.
But the artistic history of 242 E. 49th St. is just one of many reasons why someone should buy the place, said listing agent Lisa Larson with Sotheby’s International Realty. Perhaps the biggest perk, she said, is that the new owner will become a resident of Manhattan's Turtle Bay Gardens neighborhood.
Turtle Bay is a collection of 20 houses near midtown, each of which has its own private backyard with a garden area that faces their neighbor's garden. Residents also belong to a garden club that meets regularly, which helps create that "community spirit of the place," Larson added.
"It's like a secret garden in the middle of Manhattan," Larson said in an interview. "More like an urban oasis."
The average home price in Turtle Bay over the past 12 months is about $1 million, according to Homes.com data.
The townhouse for sale had a major round of renovations between 2005 and 2006, when the then-owners remodeled the kitchen and bathrooms as well as updated the central air conditioning, Larson said. The current owners have since then replaced a few fixtures throughout and repainted the interior, she added.
But long before those repairs were done, some of the nation's most famous storytellers lived in the townhouse. In 1935, White, author of "Charlotte's Web" moved into the property, stayed there for nearly a decade and then moved to a furnished apartment on West 11th Street, according to a 2016 New York Times report. During the height of his career in the early 1970s, Dylan rented the townhouse while his next-door neighbor was actress Katharine Hepburn.
Throughout the decades, journalist Dorothy Thompson, actress Mary Martin, and Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim also took up residence in Turtle Bay. "Back in the day, it was famous for writers and artists and actors," Larson said. "Now it's fewer actors, but it's still got that same understated community side."
The five-floor townhouse has historical landmark status, its own elevator and a library with a wood-burning fireplace. The property also has two balconies, a partially finished basement and a private terrace. Larson said the current owners live full-time overseas and are no longer frequent visitors to New York, so they've decided to sell the property.
The ideal new owner is someone who wants a Manhattan townhouse but doesn't want to pay north of $10 million, Larson said. She noted how a property of similar size listed in Tribeca or Central Park West would probably have a $14 million asking price or more.
Another ideal new owner would be a foreign diplomat who enjoys house guests — because the property is seven or eight blocks from the United Nations headquarters, Larson said.
"It's a beautiful house to entertain and it’s on a block that has other foreign dignitaries," she said. "When you’re in the house, you can feel the history."