East Village fixer-upper with storied artistic past wants $4.5M

A narrow, five-story townhouse that was once home to noted art critic Dore Ashton is now on the market for $4.5 million. Built in 1856, the house still holds on to many of its original details including the hardwood floors, the moldings, and the fireplaces.

Currently the townhouse is in need of some sprucing up, but for a prospective buyer it could either serve as a single family home or two apartments, according to the listing agents on the property. The house is currently setup as two separate units.

Though it’s considerably narrow, the house still has a lot going in its favor including the high ceilings, and the 60-foot long back garden, which has some serious potential as a lovely outdoor space.

This house might prove to be the biggest catch for modern art aficionados however as Ashton entertained the likes of Mark Rothko, Philip Guston, and many artists from the Abstract expressionism movement in this house, according to the listing agents.

Ashton passed away earlier this year. For more than 50 years, Ashton wrote passionately about modern and contemporary art, particularly Abstract expression, and taught art history at the Cooper Union, the New School, and the School of Visual Arts.

• Listing: 217 East 11th Street [Corcoran]
• Dore Ashton, Art Critic Who Embraced and Inhabited Modernism, Dies at 88 [NYT]