It’s becoming an increasingly common tactic in New York real estate: if at first you don’t succeed at selling your pricey property, try, try again—by putting it on the auction block. (See also: Donald Trump’s childhood home.) The owners of the Kleeberg Residence, a palatial townhouse at 3 Riverside Drive, did just that last month, and finally found a buyer for the 11,000-square-foot mansion.
While the sale price has yet to be revealed, it entered contract at $18.5 million, according to the Olshan Luxury Report. And while that number is still pretty high, it’s less than half of what the owners originally wanted: when the home was first listed back in 2012, it was going for a jaw-dropping $40 million, a price that was no doubt influenced by the relatively robust market at the time.
Times, of course, have changed, and moving a $40 million townhouse isn’t easy these days—nor is it easy when it’s $27 million, or even $22 million. So to auction it went, at its final asking price of $18.5 million; the home was expected to fetch between $13 and $16 million, but we’ll have to wait and see for a final figure.
As for the home itself, it is rather stunning: designed by C.P.H. Gilbert in the French Renaissance Revival style, it has eight bedrooms, four terraces, nine fireplaces, a boatload of hand-carved mahogany detailing, and a carved limestone facade. All of its 19th-century detailing led to it becoming a New York City landmark in 1991.