We can never make New York City into World War I-era England, but we still spend our Mondays wishing for a Downton Abbey-esque manor house. So we hunted through StreetEasy and our archives for the closest NYC approximations: homes with plenty of room for lords, ladies, and staff?and sometimes even for a hospital. Here now, our picks for Downton Abbey fans with the money and inclination to buy in Manhattan.
1) 4 East 80th Street: The most obvious Downton-like dwelling in the city is probably the $90 million mansion owned by the family of late gym mogul Lucille Roberts. The 35-foot-wide townhouse has 10 bedrooms, 11.5 bathrooms, and three kitchens in its 18,000 square feet. The dining room seats 50, and we're sure there's room for a hospital somewhere in there, too. There's even a whiff of scandal around the place.
2) 834 Fifth Avenue #3C/#4C: This property's floorplan earns it a spot on the list: there's a staff apartment (not pictured) complete with its own living room and kitchenette. The second floor of the duplex has another five staff bedrooms. All for $27.5M.
3) 781 Fifth Avenue #504/505: This $9.95 million apartment at the Sherry Netherland doesn't match 834 Fifth for number of staff bedrooms. But it does come with a small studio on the building's seventh floor, perfect for keeping the staff at a distance. And the amenities?washer/dryer in the apartment and Cipriani room service available?might cut back on the number of employees needed, anyway.
4) 829 Park Avenue #4C5C: This 4BR, 4.5BA triplex co-op certainly gets the decor right (complete with "imported English pine library"). The other feature of this apartment that caught our eye: "A service entrance, located off the formal dining room and kitchen, facilitates the deliveries of caterers and allows for easy movement of staff." All this for a not-so-bad sounding $5.999 million?but the maintenance is another $5,896/month.
5) 135 West 4th Street #2E: For those confused by the name of the show, the obligatory Downtown Abbey. Asking $1.995 million.