A townhouse for sale at $6.9 million in New York City has olive-colored wood floors and a history tied to one of America's most famous artists.
The 1899-built property at 1342 Lexington Ave. in Manhattan is within walking distance of Central Park, but that's just one distinction the home boasts. The four-story property was also the home and studio for Andy Warhol, the film director and painter who was born in Pennsylvania but rose to fame in the Big Apple.
New York is littered with homes that once housed artists, musicians, actors and entrepreneurs but those homes "have already been changed, renovated or combined with something else," said Aloysius Carlos of Nest Seekers International, the home's listing agent. The Warhol property is special because the hardwood floors, fireplaces and railings are all the same features the artist enjoyed when he lived there between 1959 and 1974, Carlos said.
"It's very rare to find a house where you can still see elements of how some of the previous owners have lived there," Carlos said in an interview. "It's a beautiful house that's filled with good energy."
The Warhol home lists at a time when housing demand is scorching hot across every borough. Manhattan, in particular, has seen around 30 buyers per week of either townhouses, condominium units or co-ops at the $4 million range and up, according to first quarter data from Coldwell Banker.
New Yorkers have been on a buying tear recently, in part because some of them are realizing that renting a place is perhaps pricier than owning, one industry onlooker said.
"These days, many would-be renters end up as buyers because the rental market in NYC is still so competitive and expensive," Frederick Peters, president emeritus at Coldwell Banker Warburg, said in a recent analysis of Manhattan's housing market. "Inventory remains tight throughout the market for move-in ready properties, while older condos and co-ops needing work still offer outstanding value to buyers willing to undertake the time and trouble involved in a renovation."
The Warhol home sits in Manhattan's Carnegie Hill neighborhood, an area known for its quiet streets and proximity to the Guggenheim Museum. The neighborhood’s median home price is $2.3 million, but multibedroom units inside white-glove buildings along Fifth, Park and Madison avenues are priced in the tens of millions.
Warhol's former townhouse features four bedrooms and four and a half bedrooms across roughly 3,000 square feet. It also has five fireplaces and a library on the ground floor.
Warhol's mother once lived on the ground floor while he used the other floors as a studio and private residence. One day, Warhol's mother was hungry and asked her son to walk to the grocery store across the street and purchase a can of Campbell's brand soup, Carlos said. Warhol obliged, but when he came home, his artistic mind activated and created the famed "Campbell's Soup Cans" painting of 1962.
Warhol also crafted portraits of celebrities, including Marilyn Monroe and Marlon Brando, while living in the home.
"This is the place where he was the most productive and where his most famous works were produced," Carlos said.
Warhol died in 1987, and his business manager Fred Hughes eventually gained ownership of the townhouse. Hughes held the property until his death in January 2001.
Carlos said the property is now owned by a private family trust. Owners of the trust, who have used the home as a rental investment, have decided it's time for someone else to own the home, he said.