Troubled Upper East Side mansion with art-world pedigree returns for $100M

The Wildenstein family’s East 64th Street home was supposed to be purchased by Qatar in 2014

The Wildenstein family is at it again. Two years after the art-world bigwigs tried to sell their Upper East Side mansion to the nation of Qatar for a staggering $90 million, the home at 19 East 64th Street is back, according to Bloomberg. Unsurprisingly, it has an equally eye-popping ask this time around: it’s listed with Cushman & Wakefield for $100 million, which would vault it very close to the top of the list of NYC’s most expensive listings (though its designation as a commercial property would, technically, disqualify it).

The sale to Qatar was all but a done deal in 2014, and had it closed, it would have been a record-breaking deal in New York. But the deal fell through for reasons that are still unclear—the speculation at the time was that the purchase may have been a bad PR move for Qatar—and the house has remained vacant ever since. Meanwhile, two apartments at One57 came along and snatched the records for the most expensive and second-most-expensive homes ever sold in the city.

Bloomberg notes that the listing itself doesn’t come with photos, so we have only the brokerbabble to rely on for a clue to the look of the interiors—but if the description is any indication, they’ll be pretty extravagant. (That’s to be expected if you’re asking someone to drop $100 million on a place.)

Designed by Gilded Age architect, Horace Trumbauer, the limestone-clad building has soaring20 foot ceilings on the ground, second and third floors. In addition to the paneled elevator that reaches all floors, a sweeping staircase connects the reception rooms to offices and meeting rooms on the upper floors of the building. On the third floor, an entire paneled salon that was in Talleyrand’s 18th Century Parisian townhouse has been re-assembled within the building as an executive office.

The home is also available for a long-term lease, but there are no details on what that might entail. But it’s safe to say that it would be very, very expensive.

from
http://ny.curbed.com/2016/8/17/12517998/upper-east-side-wildenstein-townhouse-for-sale