Brooklyn townhouse where Patti Smith once lived now an $8K/month rental

Back in 1967, punk icon Patti Smith and her then-boyfriend, now-legendary photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, shared a second-floor apartment at 160 Hall Street in Brooklyn, for which they paid a meager $80/month. In her acclaimed memoir, Just Kids, Smith wrote of the experience:

We had the entire second floor, with windows facing east and west, but its aggressively seedy condition was out of range of experience. Robert cut a deal with the landlord, agreeing to clean and paint it himself provided we pay only one month’s deposit, instead of the required two. The rent was eighty dollars a month. We paid one hundred and sixty dollars to move into 160 Hall Street. We regarded the symmetry as favorable.

How times have changed: The New York Post reports that the townhouse is on the market, with the whole place going for $8,000/month. It’s listed with Brooklyn Properties.

The place has gotten a makeover since it was last on the market, all the way back in 2012; gone are the colorful walls and spiral staircase, replaced with a chic, minimalist aesthetic that the listing says “stripped [it] back to the clean, fine elements that make this a uniquely beautiful home.”

The renovation revealed some of its original 1901 details—pine floors, exposed wooden beams—while adding in luxurious touches like Carrara marble in the bathrooms, and a custom chef’s kitchen. (Definitely not “aggressively seedy” these days.)

There’s also a roof deck, a backyard, several walk-in closets, and a full basement.

And here’s a floorplan from a previous listing:

• Listing: 160 Hall Street [Brooklyn Properties]
• Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe’s ‘seedy’ townhouse looks like this now [NYP]