For $4.35M, a Gilded Age duplex in a Stanford White-designed townhouse

The handsome building at 23 Park Avenue was once a stately private home for James H. and Cornelia V. Robb, who tapped Stanford White to design the building in the Italian Renaissance style. But at some point, it was split into more than a dozen apartments—and one of those just hit the market asking $4.35 million.

The apartment in question, a duplex, is owned by interior designer Matthew White, who also renovated the space; in 2003, he told Architectural Digest that he “saw it as an opportunity to restore a fabulous piece of New York residential history.”

The centerpiece of the space is the enormous, double-height living room, where many of the original details remain, including wood paneling, an enormous marble fireplace, and stained glass windows. White also added his own flourishes, including the plinth over the fireplace mantel, and Italian damask on the walls.

Elsewhere, as that old AD profile noted, “[t]here’s high drama wherever you turn.” The formal dining room is in a room lined with faux-limestone bricks; the master bedroom has a custom, White-designed canopy bed; the master bath is dripping in marble. (The kitchen has been refurbished to modern standards.)

On a practical level, the home has just two bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, and a library on the mezzanine level. John Barbato of Stribling has the listing. Last week, another apartment in the same building—a duplex once owned by late jewelry designer Kenneth Jay Lane—hit the market asking $3.2 million.

• Listing: 23 Park Avenue #2C [Stribling]