After 210 days on the sales market, Baz Luhrmann’s townhouse in Gramercy Park is taking a different approach: hitting the rental market. The Elvis and Great Gatsby filmmaker’s house was listed earlier in September for $75,000/month! The house is located right across the street from Stuyvesant Square Park at 243 E 17th St and was renovated in 2019 with the Gilded Age in mind. Let’s take a look at what makes this townhouse so special.

The Price: $75,000/Month

This unit is actually listed twice on StreetEasy: one for rent, and one for sale. Purchasing the townhouse outright costs just shy of $19 million. With a $3.7 million down payment, you’d still be on the hook for $106,954 per month of mortgage payments and monthly taxes, so perhaps renting is a better deal.

At $75,000/month, this townhouse’s rent is 16 times the median rent for Gramercy Park, which sat at $4,500 this August according to the StreetEasy Data Dashboard. But it’s fair to say that the average home in Gramercy Park isn’t a designer townhouse owned by an Oscar-winning film director.

What The $75K Includes…

Be forewarned: the listing notes that Baz’s Oscars are not included in the house. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, we can discus what’s in the house—and there’s quite a lot! The 28-foot-wide house has its own elevator that traverses between its four floors and cellar. Outside, the house stuns with a three-bay facade, paneled cornice, and cast-iron balcony details. Inside, there’s over 8,500 square feet of space, which has been immaculately designed with curved doorways, stellar wallpapers, and textured ceilings.

On the garden floor, you’ll find an eat-in kitchen with a butler’s pantry, outfitted in marble countertops, painted pine cabinetry, and luxury stainless steel appliances. Also on this floor are a powder room and a dining room which contains one of the five (five!) wood-burning fireplaces in the home. One flight up the gorgeous, winding staircase is the parlor floor, which is bathed in light thanks to the curved south-facing windows. The Juliet balcony also provides the perfect spot to overlook the park. Behind the main entertaining space is the primary suite, which has an en-suite bath, walk-in closet, and private terrace facing the garden.

The third floor is comprised of three bedrooms, a laundry room, and a sitting room that could be turned into another bedroom. The top floor is currently designed as an independent suite complete with a bar, gym, living room, bedroom, and bathroom. Renowned jazz saxophonist Clifford Jordan and his wife once lived in this studio! It could be converted into a complete guest suite or integrated back into the rest of the house.

The house also has a basement with a separate entrance to the garden and includes a home office, extra laundry room, and media room. Outside, the backyard has ample space to entertain, grow a garden, or simply relax.

…And What It Doesn’t

Because the upstairs suite and English basement both don’t have kitchens, they couldn’t be used as rentals or completely independent guest suites. And although the building is in Gramercy Park, it’s not one of the 39 buildings that get keys to the elusive park itself. But that’s a very small sacrifice to make for such a beautiful home!

Check out the listing at 243 E. 17th St., listed by Steve Gold of Corcoran.