Much detective work (à la Harriet) reveals the residences of a boy-mouse and a anthropomorphized girl dog span various neighborhoods including the Upper East Side, Gramercy Park, and Park Slope. What follows is a survey of seven iconic children's books set in New York City and the current valuations of their fictional homes.
In this article:
Eloise (The Plaza)
There are currently 26 apartments for sale in The Plaza with prices ranging from $999,000 to $16,950,000. We're going to assume that a 20th and 21st-floor penthouse priced at $14.5 million is definitely not Eloise’s - if she had access to that insanely amazing penthouse terrace overlooking Central Park, she would have gotten up to much more dangerous shenanigans.
Since Eloise had nannies, tutors and obviously a huge staff, we will assume her unit would have to be large to accommodate everyone. Therefore, we guess it would be comparable to a 6+ bedroom combination unit, which is currently listed for $16,490,000. Recent closings in the building come to an average price of $3,097 per square foot.
Stuart Little (Gramercy Park)
In 1945, E.B. White set his story about a human boy born as a tiny, gray mouse who lived in a stately townhouse on Gramercy Park. The only clues the text gives about where the house are White’s lines, “The home of the Little family was a pleasant place near a park in New York City. In the mornings, the sun streamed in through the east windows, and all the Littles were up early as a general rule.”
Mr. Brady expanded, “The building at the end of the street is clearly inspired by 60 Gramercy Park North. If you eliminate the stairs down from the porch (maybe because it would make the building seem too unapproachable for a mouse), then the building does look a bit like 4. The one clear element of artistic license are the shadows. If we are looking north they should be on the far side of the objects, because the sun would be behind us, but the artist switched it by about 90 degrees.”
Many claim the Littles lived at 22 Gramercy Park South but there is no evidence of this in the actual text and it does not match the illustrations. There are no current availabilities at 22 Gramercy Park South as of this writing, and closed sales in the building come to an average price of $2,119 per square foot.
Harriet the Spy (Yorkville)
The author, Louise Fitzhugh, lived on East 85th Street when she wrote the book so she clearly wrote what she knew. Harriet and her family, including beloved nanny Ole Golly and a family cook, live on “East Eighty-seventh Street in Manhattan.” Fitzhugh continues, “Harriet loved her room. It was small and cozy and the bathroom was a little one which looked out over the park across the street.” That would place Harriet’s house at 558 East 87th Street, which is now on the market for $5,975,000.
Lyle Crocodile (Yorkville)
The Primm family home is a three-story house has a wrought iron gate in front, a grand staircase that sweeps up to the second floor (with a uniformed maid waiting at the top), stately living and dining rooms, multiple fireplaces, and many bedrooms.
The building was built in 1920 and currently has 17 units. Assuming it was still a single-family home and in good condition, a small handful of Yorkville townhouses with recent renovations is currently on the market with prices ranging from $5,975,000 to $8,650,000 (per CityRealty listings). If the Primms still lived at East 88th Street, and it was in similar condition to those listed, we would put it around $8 million.
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (Central Park West)
Knuffle Bunny (Park Slope)
Trixie and her parents live at 599 10th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues, one block from Prospect Park. The building is a two unit, multi-family home built in 1901 and it last sold in January 2002 for $879,000. The book was published in 2004, so the valuation today would likely be somewhere between $3 million and $4 million.
Lisa in New York (Tudor City)
After a cursory look at the two illustrations, Clifford E. Katz, founder and president of Manhattan-based Mobius Realty Holdings LLC, offered the following observations of their locale, “The skyline is a classic Midtown visual trope, with left-to-right representing being South-to-North. The cluster of midrise buildings punctuated by 2-3 notably higher skyscrapers, supports this inference. If the implied orientation is indeed south-to-north, it also follows that the implied point-of-view is likely from Midtown East, somewhere between Murray Hill to Turtle Bay. One can then presuming intuit that the tallest building is likely the Empire State [34th and 5th]. All reasonable, as Midtown West historically was not an affluent residential district. Finally, the window fenestration appears to be prewar [noted by divided lights], perhaps intending to represent a building in an architectural vernacular reminiscent of Tudor City.”
Indeed, at 25 Tudor City Place, a high-floor one-bedroom has strikingly similar views as Uncle’s Harrison’s, and the unit's casement windows look remarkably like the ones in the illustrations. It is listed for $625,000.
With the distinguished cravat-wearing uncle and the Warhol prints on the wall, we can presume this is a nice apartment. Since there is no mention of Lisa having to sleep on a couch while visiting him, then the apartment must have at least two bedrooms. According to CityRealty data, closed sales of two-bedroom co-ops in Turtle Bay come to a median price of $840,000.
In summary...
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