Rich person Constance Milstein paid $15.75 million for the fifth- and sixth-floor duplex at 998 Fifth Avenue in 2006. A flip attempt has two points in its favor: Milstein gave it a renovation and it's the only duplex available in the building right now. But the apartment failed to sell at its first $23 million ask or after some choppage. Time for a broker switch! The apartment is back with a $20 million ask under the brokership of Paula Del Nunzio, whose brokerbabble offers its usual drool-worthy mix of history and opulence in describing the building.
The architect's vision was needed to reinterpret the elements in the grandest mansions of the day, so many of which were designed my McKim, Mead & White, and place them in a vertical arrangement as superb in its way as their previous homes. The result has never been duplicated: there was a lobby in Italian marble, hallways in Tennessee marble, elevators in French walnut, silver sales, huge refrigerators, separate storage rooms, separate wine cellars, massive entertaining spaces, numerous servants rooms. Even the interior courtyard is lined with stone rather than brick for an improved view. The land and construction cost $3 million in 1920, an unheard of figure for an apartment building of the day. The cost of one floor at 998 Fifth Avenue would have paid for an entire building of the time. The floorplan for the Milstein duplex:
· Listing: 998 Fifth Avenue [BHS]
· 998 Fifth Avenue coverage [Curbed]
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