{"id":515392,"date":"2026-03-10T17:21:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T17:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/515392\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T17:21:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T17:21:13","slug":"the-decrepit-wisteria-townhouse-in-the-east-village-is-a-gem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/515392\/","title":{"rendered":"The Decrepit Wisteria Townhouse in the East Village Is a Gem"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n 35 Stuyvesant Street is quite the masterpiece. The townhouse also a total mess.
\n Photo-Illustration: Curbed; Photo: Compass\n <\/p>\n

35 Stuyvesant Street is a work of art<\/a>. The fa\u00e7ade of the 19th-century Anglo-Italianate townhouse \u2014\u00a0with its lovely rounded, arched windows \u2014\u00a0is beautiful on its own, and the effect is only heightened by the wisteria that wraps it come spring each year. The interiors of the landmarked home are just as striking \u2014plenty of prewar details still intact, including painted wooden shutters on the south-facing windows. It is also an unholy mess. (A person I spoke to who toured the property described \u201chaunted-house-level disrepair,\u201d including stairs missing slats and walls that one can, in certain spots, peer through.)<\/p>\n

The property that was once home to the Gothic furniture collector Lee B. Anderson went on the market in October 2023 and has seen two price cuts since. Now, with a sleek new broker in Compass\u2019s Nick Gavin and an asking price of $3.89 million, the question is: Won\u2019t anyone buy this decrepit little masterpiece?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n This languishing East Village townhouse, as seen in this listing photo, feels tailored made for Compass\u2019s Nick Gavin.
\n Photo: Compass\n <\/p>\n

Anderson bought the house in 1958 and spent decades filling it with his various treasures \u2014\u00a0think high-backed chairs and spindly birdcages \u2014\u00a0and hosted parties attended by everyone from Andy Warhol to Lee Radziwill and Halston. But it\u2019s seen better days. Brokers and those familiar with No. 35 in its current condition say Gavin was the right move \u2014\u00a0\u201cbring your contractor\u201d homes sometimes need the right touch to move them along. One real-estate agent who\u2019s sold several brownstones told me that while it\u2019s possible a developer could end up buying the place in an attempt to flip it, the more likely buyer would be a well-off creative type. (Or a well-off type who fancies themselves a creative?) \u201cSomeone who is going to have to have really deep pockets and a lot of time on their hands,\u201d this person tells me.<\/p>\n

Time was a recurring theme in my conversations. (Did we mention it\u2019s landmarked?) \u201cThat\u2019s probably the biggest single thing,\u201d Serhant\u2019s Ravi Kantha, who handles townhouse sales, tells me. The current owners, according to city records, are Rocco Carlucci and Glenn Zecco, the latter of whom was Anderson\u2019s caretaker until he died in 2010. Kantha says where the property is priced right now is \u201ca good deal,\u201d but he adds that when it comes to renovations today, a lot of people don\u2019t want to do the work. \u201cThey know it\u2019s expensive and takes a long time. It\u2019s a headache,\u201d he says. Again, the right buyer is key.<\/p>\n

And Corcoran\u2019s Monica Rittersporn, who previously held the listing and lives on the block, had no such luck. Even after some interested parties looped in their architects and contractors, she says, they decided against putting in an offer. The task felt too monumental.\u00a0 \u201cThey didn\u2019t have the headspace,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Also potentially tricky: The house, which sits on a rare Manhattan diagonal that forms the so-called Renwick Triangle, has a kooky floorplan. It\u2019s 32 feet wide, but is quite shallow\u00a0\u2014 just 14 feet deep. And then there\u2019s the backyard issue: Specifically, it doesn\u2019t have one. \u201cPart of the expected package when people buy a townhouse is that they\u2019re going to get a garden, a backyard,\u201d Kantha says. \u201dWhen you don\u2019t have one, you\u2019re competing with all the other houses that do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gavin, for his part, isn\u2019t sweating it. (Would he ever tell us otherwise?) He\u2019s confident that the house will sell before the wisteria blooms. In fact, he tells me, just two weeks after taking over the listing, a contract is out. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be special when someone fixes it up,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Adriane Quinlan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n Whoever buys this decrepit but lovely townhouse, as seen in this listing photo, will need to have some deep pockets.
\n Photo: Compass\n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n This East Village townhouse, as seen in this listing photo, somehow has many of its charming prewar details still intact.
\n Photo: Compass\n <\/p>\n

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