The red, 3-story, landmark building at 137 Second Avenue between 9th Street and St. Mark's Place has been placed on the market as a "single-family house" for $13 million.
The building had been sold in August, 2006 to Herbert Hirsch for $4,800,000. He initially planned to convert it to residential condominiums and in December, 2006 revised his plans and commissioned Albert V. Saulo of Staten Island to draw up plans to add three floors to the building to convert it to a 50-bed dormitory. Several months later, however, he offered to lease it at $150 a square foot for ten years, describing it, according to an article by Bonnie Rosenstock in the May 30-June 5, 2007 edition of The Villager, as "perfect for restaurant/bar."
An another article by Ms. Rosenstock in the September 12-18, 2007 edition of The Villager said that Mr. Hirsch had sold the building and Department of Finance records appear to indicate that the new owners are 135 2nd LLC of which Jenny Haim is a member and Lower East Side Equities LLC of which Joel Schreiber is a member. The sales price was reported elsewhere to be about $7 million and yesterday Curbed.com reported that the property was now being marketed for $13 million as a single-family house.
The website of the Moss Real Estate Group said that the building's price was $13 million and provided the following commentary:
"- The facade: one of the best, complete with exquisite carvings and a Tiffany landmark placard. - The bones: as good as it gets with 13 foot ceilings, 68 by 50 floor-plates, and a grand staircase even Lenny Kravitz would envy. - Original details: yours for the leaving, original tile, moldings, gigantic windows and tin ceilings where you can save them. - The kicker: over 5000 square feet of outdoor space, and a 3000 foot lower level with full windows - do I hear indoor/outdoor saltwater swimming pool exiting to your gigantic organic garden? The opportunity: at 12,000 square feet including the lower level, the building is in need of a substantial renovation; a great opportunity to think green about the way this home will interact with the larger environment. - Other potential uses: extraordinary space for private club (a la Soho House), boutique hotel, spa, flagship office or retail. - Our guess: someone with rock star attitude will transform this coolest of village landmarks into the most extraordinary eco-mansion New York has ever seen."
Melissa Liptak and Jeffrey Kozlow of Moss Real Estate Group are listed on the website as agents for the property.
The 47-foot-wide building, an official New York City landmark, had been occupied by the Cabrini Medical Center and was delivered vacant when Mr. Hirsch acquired it and it contains about 12,800 square feet.
This building and the adjacent Ottendorfer Branch of the New York Public Library at 135 Second Avenue were designed in 1884 by William Schickel and commissioned by Anna and Oswald Ottendorfer, philanthropists concerned with the welfare of New York's German immigrant community.
The two buildings are among the most attractive and important landmarks of the East Village.
Mr. Ottendorfer was the publisher of the Staats-Zeitung.
In the second edition of "Guide to New York City Landmarks," Andrew S. Dolkart observed that "This exuberant Italian Renaissance-inspired structure, designed by the German-born architect William Schickel, is among the first buildings in New York to display extensive ornamental terra cotta, including busts of important figures in the history of medicine."
In their fine book, "The A.I.A. Guide to New York, Fourth Edition," Elliot Willensky and Norval White noted that the building was originally known as the Deutches Dispensary and then the Stuyvesant Polyclinic Hospital. It originally was the downtown dispensary of the German Hospital, today's Lenox Hill at Park Avenue and 77th Street.
The building had been sold in August, 2006 to Herbert Hirsch for $4,800,000. He initially planned to convert it to residential condominiums and in December, 2006 revised his plans and commissioned Albert V. Saulo of Staten Island to draw up plans to add three floors to the building to convert it to a 50-bed dormitory. Several months later, however, he offered to lease it at $150 a square foot for ten years, describing it, according to an article by Bonnie Rosenstock in the May 30-June 5, 2007 edition of The Villager, as "perfect for restaurant/bar."
An another article by Ms. Rosenstock in the September 12-18, 2007 edition of The Villager said that Mr. Hirsch had sold the building and Department of Finance records appear to indicate that the new owners are 135 2nd LLC of which Jenny Haim is a member and Lower East Side Equities LLC of which Joel Schreiber is a member. The sales price was reported elsewhere to be about $7 million and yesterday Curbed.com reported that the property was now being marketed for $13 million as a single-family house.
The website of the Moss Real Estate Group said that the building's price was $13 million and provided the following commentary:
"- The facade: one of the best, complete with exquisite carvings and a Tiffany landmark placard. - The bones: as good as it gets with 13 foot ceilings, 68 by 50 floor-plates, and a grand staircase even Lenny Kravitz would envy. - Original details: yours for the leaving, original tile, moldings, gigantic windows and tin ceilings where you can save them. - The kicker: over 5000 square feet of outdoor space, and a 3000 foot lower level with full windows - do I hear indoor/outdoor saltwater swimming pool exiting to your gigantic organic garden? The opportunity: at 12,000 square feet including the lower level, the building is in need of a substantial renovation; a great opportunity to think green about the way this home will interact with the larger environment. - Other potential uses: extraordinary space for private club (a la Soho House), boutique hotel, spa, flagship office or retail. - Our guess: someone with rock star attitude will transform this coolest of village landmarks into the most extraordinary eco-mansion New York has ever seen."
Melissa Liptak and Jeffrey Kozlow of Moss Real Estate Group are listed on the website as agents for the property.
The 47-foot-wide building, an official New York City landmark, had been occupied by the Cabrini Medical Center and was delivered vacant when Mr. Hirsch acquired it and it contains about 12,800 square feet.
This building and the adjacent Ottendorfer Branch of the New York Public Library at 135 Second Avenue were designed in 1884 by William Schickel and commissioned by Anna and Oswald Ottendorfer, philanthropists concerned with the welfare of New York's German immigrant community.
The two buildings are among the most attractive and important landmarks of the East Village.
Mr. Ottendorfer was the publisher of the Staats-Zeitung.
In the second edition of "Guide to New York City Landmarks," Andrew S. Dolkart observed that "This exuberant Italian Renaissance-inspired structure, designed by the German-born architect William Schickel, is among the first buildings in New York to display extensive ornamental terra cotta, including busts of important figures in the history of medicine."
In their fine book, "The A.I.A. Guide to New York, Fourth Edition," Elliot Willensky and Norval White noted that the building was originally known as the Deutches Dispensary and then the Stuyvesant Polyclinic Hospital. It originally was the downtown dispensary of the German Hospital, today's Lenox Hill at Park Avenue and 77th Street.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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