Tasteful Friends. Would you live in this humble abode?

Gorgeous. Very expensive.

God damn I love it.

Two basement levels, because of course one must simply have a pool, gym, yoga studio, billiards room and a home cinema room. Slightly odd there are no photos of those rooms. It's tastefully decorated, considering the market this must be aimed at.

It's large, and not a terrible floor plan, though for that sort of money you might expect an interior a little better than this ivory-colored series of boxes with the sort of 'top builder's grade' finishes that you might find in some Florida mini-mansion backing up to gatorland. There's the floating limestone floored staircase and a double-height living room, and some very underwhelming and poorly proportioned basic fireplace surrounds, and a lot of rooms with their proportions off (presumably from lowered ceilings to accommodate HVAC). Otherwise the design and finishes are subpar despite the double-barrelled trans-Atlantic architectural team. It seems an object lesson in the premium people will pay for the new house smell of a virginal property, unslept in, undirtied, a big, ghastly expensive boring blank slate. Just remember the price and don't look too closely at the design or details.

For $85M, surely they could have had elegant profiled bronze windows at the back of the house where the arched windows, massed windows/French-doors, and double-height windows are. Instead there are crude, chunky white enamelled muntins, the equivalent of sausage fingers. Double-glazing doesn't need to look obvious or ugly, but here it does. And overall there's very little variety in the materials and finishes. I get that they want to present a 'seamless' space of 4100sf, but for me it comes of a bit cheap where they aimed for luxury.

To be fair, there are some terraces -- and a rear garden -- but none of these were photographed because they are not yet complete it seems. It's not a terrible house by any means, just not near what it could be, nor should be for $85M.

[quote]Rarely have homes of this prominence been created, and even fewer have ever become available for sale. [bold]48-50 West 69th Street stands as the modern-day epitome of the city’s grandest historic residences[/bold], ushering in a new chapter in the story of the neighborhood’s single-family properties for one discerning purchaser.

Aside from the facades (which are landmarked and weren't exactly rescued from oblivion) and the wooden sash windows at the facade, there's not a thing historic about the place.

Both No. 48, the unpainted brownstone, and No. 50 with the painted brownstone facade date to 1892-1893, part of a row of eight facades of design varied 'in the configuration ABCDABCE' according to Landmark West.

I would take something smaller and in a better location if I had a budget of 85 million.

No exterior views?

$85 million worth of boredom.

85 mil would get a massive horse farm. Just sayin. 85 mil to have no exterior views and get mugged when you walk down the street? No thanks. I am in a friend group with a bunch of people that live in buildings like that. They tell me stuff like when their dog died (they have to walk it, there’s no fenced yard) a police officer that guarded their building gave them a hug. Like, I’m a country person and can’t imagine having to walk my dog and having a police officer notice my moods when I take a walk. No thanks!

Basement has a “staff room” and a back staircase that goes nowhere because it looks like it was blocked when they renovated the kitchen. 4th floor has four bedrooms, two have no closets. 3rd floor is one giant master suite with two bathrooms, now that is civilized.

[quote] though for that sort of money you might expect an interior a little better than this ivory-colored series of boxes

Would you though? Given the price, it's pretty much a certainty that whoever buys this is going to then employ their own interior designer to come in and redo the place. So keeping everything basic and neutral seems to make sense to me.

r9 I thought that too about the back stairs, but they actually go down into the basements.

See also:

Question for architects / builders -- I know of a two older townhomes in NYC where they added a pool in the basement and people said it just made the whole house a humid, chlorine-scented mess; but they weren't essentially new builds like this is. Have HAVC systems gotten to the point, if you have the money, that you can have a pool right under your dining room and not know it?

Construction since 2018?! I passed by that block not that long ago and was wondering whether they were the same buildings that were under construction before the pandemic began. Six years of construction is inhuman for all the neighboring residents. They only end up becoming pariahs in their new chosen neighborhood, so what was the point? Having money doesn't mean you have common sense or manners. They should have instead just bought a fucking duplex penthouse somewhere else and be done with it.

Isn’t that the Devil Wears Prada staircase? Where Andy takes the book to Miranda?

Loved on the next blocks 30 years ago.

That neighborhood was, and presumably still is, heaven.

Grand but bland.

Totally undistinctive interior. Decor like a W Hotel.

Terrible people, causing this kind of uproar for everyone around them. I hope no one buys it.

James Dean had lived around the block at 19 W 68th Street, on the top floor. A friend of mine lived on that same block in the 1980s and he pointed it out to me.