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An Illicit Wander Inside The Bowery's Mysterious Mansion

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Even as it's emptied and stripped of its street art ornamentation, making it devoid of the derelict Bowery character that has defined it for decades, the interior of 190 Bowery remains as mysterious as ever. Point people for Aby Rosen's RFR Realty, who acquired the 1898 Germania Bank building for $55 million from long-time owner photographer Jay Maisel, are hard to come by; don't think Curbed hasn't tried to arrange a tour inside. Animal did get inside though, albeit illicitly, and the shots they captured are nothing short of impressive. So drink up, folks: this may be the last, and only look into the legendary mansion before it's converted into condos.


↑ The entrance hall still shows signs of its life as a bank.


↑ Ahead of its conversion, the building needs a lot of TLC. But here's to hoping RFR Realty preserves the historic details, like this molding, that makes the building so unique.


↑ The sixth floor living space the Maisels occupied over their nearly half century of ownership.


↑ Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein rented from Maisel for some time. This room is where he lived out part of his second marriage and also where he knifed some of his earlier work on a rampage.


↑ Upon moving out in February, the Maisels seemed to have left a lot of their life behind.


↑ A sixth floor work space.


↑ An elevator original to the building had been restored and still functions.


↑ An ornate staircase leading to the basement's original vault.

For way more shots inside, check out Animal.
· Adventures in Trespassing: I Owned 190 Bowery For Three Days [Animal]
· Mysterious 37,000-Square-Foot Bowery Home May Be For Sale [Curbed]
· All 190 Bowery coverage [Curbed]

190 Bowery

190 Bowery, New York, NY 10012