Gloria Vanderbilt's Childhood Home Listed for $50M, But Her Artistic Legacy Was Blocks Away
The former penthouse apartment of Gloria Vanderbilt’s family and is being sold separately for $25M, or it can be sold as part of the overall townhouse for $50M.
The sleek modernization of a pedigreed Upper East Side townhouse that was once Gloria Vanderbilt’s childhood home continues to seek a buyer, with a new, lower list price at $50 million.
Located at 39 E. 72nd St., the historic sandstone building contains 3 separate condominium units, and each is being sold separately or recombined in any other configuration. The list prices for each unit have been recently cut as follows: $11.5 million for the maisonette; $13.5 million for the duplex unit; $25 million for the penthouse unit or $50 million for the entire townhouse.
The duplex is being sold for $13.5M, or can be packaged with the overall townhouse.
Vanderbilt, the entrepreneurial and artistic heiress who passed away June 2019 at age 95, lived in the building for just a short time as a child in 1924 before heading to Paris with her mother. Yet the 1880’s residence remains attached to the Vanderbilt name, despite a recent gut-renovation and addition by Mink Development and B+B Capital with CentraRuddy as the architectural design firm.
The maisonette is being sold for $11.5M.
The building is a testament to the upper-crust climate in Lenox Hill, but bears no comparison to the lavishly imaginative and romantically whimsical interior that Gloria Vanderbilt created in the Upper East Side apartment where she lived in the years prior to her passing.
That nearby home was featured in this “New York magazine” video story (above) for which Gloria Vanderbilt provided commentary about what drove her colorful and inviting artistic expression.
In fact, with the help of her son, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, Vanderbilt became a resurgent artist in her final years. Cooper took to posting photos of his mother’s art on Instagram, where 39K followers lauded her visionary chalk drawings from her studio, which also drew many buyers.
As can be imagined, the 26-foot-wide townhouse is outfitted with the highest-end materials and finishes. It measures 18,504 square feet and has seven floors, 12 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. The Douglas Elliman team of Lauren Muss, John Giannone, John Credaroli III and Michael Orme are handling the sale.