Designed by architect Ralph Samuel Townsend, built on spec as a single-family home, and completed in 1885 in a Neo-Grec style with Renaissance Revival flourishes, 138 West 82nd Street in New York City was first owned by minister-turned-real estate mogul Samuel “Lucky Sam” Colcord. By the middle of the 20th century, the handsome brownstone had been chopped up into a rooming house, and in the early 1980s, it was reconfigured with one apartment on each of its five floors.
Finally, in 2004, records show the building was acquired for $3.45 million by venture capitalist Dylan Hixon and artist Camomile Hixon, who undertook a comprehensive restoration and update that, according to the Daytonian in Manhattan, included “the refabrication of the [original] stoop railings,” which had been removed in an early renovation.
The 140-year-old home retains many of its original detailing.
With the exterior looking much as it did 140 years ago, the inlaid parquet was refinished. Most of the original architectural detailing that had been removed in the 1980s overhaul, including pocket doors, window shutters, and carpenter’s lace trim work, was also able to be reinstalled as it had been stashed down in the basement.
Today, the 6,500-square-foot stunner has six mostly en suite bedrooms, including a garden-level guest suite, a one-bedroom/one-bath guest apartment with a kitchenette on the top floor, and a primary suite that occupies the entire third floor with a private sitting room and a dressing hall lined with vintage wooden cabinets.
There are eight fireplaces, including in the private sitting room of the main bedroom.
The couple’s eclectic taste and fondness for color are on display throughout, from the library’s midcentury furniture and geometric rug to the thorn-like pattern of the wallpaper in the living room. Downstairs, in the sleek and modern garden-level kitchen, there’s a fireside dining area, glossy white cabinetry, and an intricately patterned tile floor. Opaque glass pocket doors can be used to close off the washing area, while the media lounge has a section of glass roof that also serves as the floor of a terrace above.
Other highlights include eight eye-catching fireplaces, a dedicated package delivery room, and four separate outdoor spaces, including a 28-foot-deep backyard and a rooftop deck accessed by a ladder and hatch.
The garden-level kitchen is a sleek, modern space that spills out to the rear garden.
Hixon, an heir to a prominent American family whose fortune derives from timber and electronics investments, is a venture capitalist, while Camomile is an accomplished artist known for her glitter-based paintings and for her Unicorn Project, an interactive street-art initiative that began in New York in 2010 before spreading around the world.
The townhouse has been listed for $9.95 million with Amanda Field Jordan & Mara Flash Blum from The Field Team of Sotheby’s International Realty.
Click here for more photos of the Upper West Side townhouse.
Authors
Mark David
Mark David got his start writing about real estate with the saucy cult-favorite blog The Real Estalker, on which he obsessively tracked the secretive world of celebrity property transactions. A much…