The Whitman Mansion, 21 East 26th Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 21 East 26th Street by Carter Horsley

The Whitman is a six-story building at 21 East 26^th Street across from Madison Square Park that was converted to four large condominium apartments in 2013 by David Mitchell of Mitchell Holdings LLC.

The very handsome building, which extends through the block to 27^th Street, was erected in 1924 and was a former showroom building. Mitchell Holdings acquired it in 2011 from Plumbers’ Local 1 for about $13 million.

Jeffrey Cole was the architect for the conversion.

Bottom Line

One of the city’s most luxurious residential conversions of a low-rise property, this project on the north side of Madison Square Park offers very large apartments and is convenient to the very popular Italian food emporium known as Eataly at 200 Fifth Avenue and three very important landmark skyscrapers, the Flatiron Building, the MetLife tower and the New York Life Insurance building.

Description

This red-brick, Neo-Georgian-style building has a one-story, rusticated limestone base with three large arched windows on the first floor that are repeated on the top floor.  Its windows are multi-paned.

There are four limestone pilasters between the second and fourth floors and a broad bandcourse above the third floor.

The 5^th floor has a railed with several large limestone urns in front of a broad terrace and arched double-doors with fan lights.

The sixth floor is setback and has three large terraces.

The building, whose ground floor will contain retail space, has sidewalk landscaping.

Amenities

The building has a keyed elevator, a full-time doorman, storage, a package room and a gym.

It has no garage, no concierge and no roof deck.

Apartments

The duplex penthouse contains 6,540 square feet of interior space and 3,000 square feet of exterior space. 

The fifth floor has a small entry foyer that opens into a 44-foot-long living room with skylight overlooking the park.  There is a 23-foot-long dining room that opens onto a 22-foot-long open kitchen with an island and a wine storage wall.  A long hall leads to three bedrooms, a laundry and a 13-foot-long office.

The top floor of the duplex has a 42-foot-long terrace with great vistas of the park’s famous skyline that opens onto the unit’s 29-foot-long “upper lounge” that opens onto a unit’s 39-foot-long central terrace that leads to a 17-foot-long master bedroom that leads to a very large bath and dressing space that opens onto a 31-foot-side north terrace.

The penthouse has wide plank rift oak floors, a putting green and a croquet lawn.

The full-floor units have stunning kitchens by ArcLinea and AF New York with Miele and Sub-Zero appliances, Lignum matte lacquer doors, Caesarstone pebble polished countertops and Satintech etched backsplashes.

They also have bathrooms by NY Stone and AF New York with Dornbracht and Hansgrohe fixtures, Villeroy & Boch and Toto toilers, and large shower areas with his and her showerheads.

Team

Mr. Mitchell is managing partner since 2004 of Las Vegas Land Partners LLC, a development firm that is building with Forest City Enterprises the City of Las Vegas Civic Center that includes a new City Hall and a Transportation Center.  He has also built and owns more than 1,000 rental apartments in Los Vegas and his other New York projects include 21 East 22^nd Street and 183 Columbia Heights in Brooklyn.

History

The building was erected by the Neptune Land Company as the headquarters and showrooms for Clarence B. Whitman and Sons, a textile concern. The building, which is within the Madison Park Historic District, was originally designed to resemble a London trading house, according to the building’s website.

Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of President Clinton, brought a full-floor apartment as did Jeff Gordon, a NASCAR driver, and John Silvetz, a hedge-fund trader. All were for $10 million or more. The penthouse was originally listed for $22.5 million and then its price was raised to $25 million.