East Village’s hidden Cape Cod-style rooftop cottage finds a buyer

Looks like someone was eager to snap up one of the East Village’s most unique properties: after a little more than a month on the market, the top-floor apartment at 72 East 1st Street—which comes with an adorable, semi-secret rooftop cottage that wouldn’t look out of place on Cape Cod—has found a buyer. While the sale has yet to close, it went into contract at the home’s original asking price of $3.5 million, per the Compass listing.

The building itself was purchased decades ago by sculptor Henry Merwin Shrady III, who passed away in 2015. His widow, Gale Barrett Shrady, is selling their duplex apartment, and told the New York Post that the attached cottage is a “magical little spot” that served as her son’s bedroom through college. (Awww.)

That cedar shake nook may be tiny, but it does have its own bathroom, along with an itty-bitty fridge, and a window seat the overlooks the apartment’s expansive roof deck. The duplex below was created by combining the building’s fourth and fifth floors, and comes with a sunken living room, a master suite, an expansive artist’s studio, and an atrium overlooking that space.

The Shradys had rented the cute cottage out to tenants in the past—here’s hoping that even if a new owner doesn’t do that, that they’ll at least keep that charming space intact.

• East Village’s hidden Cape Cod-style rooftop cottage seeks $3.5M [Curbed]