Melville described our "insular city of the Manhattoes" as a place where "posted like silent sentinels all around town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries." Now, picture a gaunt, dour-looking Ishmael gaze out at the bustling seaport from one of the windows of this townhouse at 134 Beekman Street, pipe in hand (minus the West Elm furniture, of course).
Built in 1825, this five-story townhouse is really special. It was recently gut-renovated and restored and features an absurd collection of "reclaimed historical materials," including floorboards and ceiling beams salvaged from an 18th century barn in upstate New York; a soapstone double sink from an upstate farmhouse; doors from an English country house; an ebony apothecary cabinet retrofitted with an antique marble sink; and, hilariously, a "freestanding 6' porcelain soaking tub which belonged to to the headmistress of a private girl's school in California." There's also a really nice planted garden on the roof deck that offers "occasional glimpses" of ship's masts on the river, allowing you to broodingly pine for the sea "whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in [your] soul."
It's asking $5.995 million, or, 374,687 Spanish ounces of gold.
· Listing: 134 Beekman Street [Sotheby's]
· On the Market archives [Curbed]
Loading comments...