Architect Paul Rudolph’s old Beekman Place penthouse asks $14,500/month

Modernist starchitect Paul Rudolph’s incredible townhouse on tony Beekman Place has been on and off the market for a few years now, with the listing most recently appearing in April for $19.5 million—a significant discount from its original $27.5 million price tag.

But the house, which was at one point split into four separate apartments, hasn’t been lacking in tenants; those units keep on renting, and now, the 3,000-square-foot triplex penthouse is back on the market, asking $14,500/month.

Rudolph himself lived in the townhouse from the 1961 until his death in 1997. Its best-known feature—and one that whoever moves into this penthouse will have access to—is its “steel-framed cage of balconies,” as the AIA Guide to New York City puts it, which cling to the outside of the building and “give[s] a strong, radical presence to the local skyline.” It was designated a New York City landmark in 2010, with the Landmarks Preservation Commission calling the house “abstract and minimal, open and closed, classical and industrial … [with] a strong sculptural quality – a quality rarely found in Manhattan’s residential streetscape.” (The whole designation report is worth a read, really.)

Unfortunately, the current listing (via Corcoran) doesn’t have many photos of the interiors—but an older one does, and they’re incredible:

It’s a unique space, to be sure, but for anyone who wants to live in a piece of modernist history—and can afford to pay the price of a new car for one month of rent—this may be the place for you.

• Listing: 23 Beekman Place PH [Corcoran]