A historic Manhattan townhouse that was the longtime residence of Phyllis Cerf Wagner, who was married to the co-founder of the Random House publishing company and later to a New York mayor, returned to the market Tuesday for $24 million.
The new asking price is a $2-million hike from the $22 million price tag it hit the market with in February 2016. The listing has been on and off the market since 2014, with an original price tag of $27 million, listing records show.
The five-story townhouse, located on 62nd Street between Lexington and Park avenues, was built in 1899 and designated a city landmark in 1982.
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Phyllis Cerf Wagner, an actress, ad executive, newspaper columnist and collaborator with Dr. Seuss, a.k.a. Theodor Geisel, on children books, and her first husband, Random House co-founder Bennett Cerf, bought the townhouse in 1941, according to property records and published reports.
The couple lived in the townhouse for 30 years. After Bennett Cerf died in 1971, Phyllis Cerf assumed the ownership of the townhouse and continued to live there after she remarried former Mayor Robert F. Wagner in 1975.
Over six-and-a-half decades, she reportedly hosted a slew of celebrity guests including Frank Sinatra, William Faulkner and Truman Capote.
"In my dad’s day, it was theater people mixing with book people. In Bob Wagner’s day, it was political people mixing with powerful people from the private sector," Jonathan Cerf, her younger son, previously told The New York Times.
After she died in 2006, her estate sold the townhouse for $8.5 million to Suzanne Sheik, a jewelry designer and mother of Duncan Sheik, a singer and songwriter best known for his 1996 single "Barely Breathing."
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The current owner, who purchased the townhouse in 2013 for $14 million via a limited liability company, completely renovated the townhouse. The 20-foot-wide townhouse has 5,200 square feet of interior living space including six bedrooms, seven marble bathrooms, a state-of-the-art kitchen and a wine cellar, according to the listing with Beverly J. Cole of Sotheby’s International Realty.
The townhouse also features high ceilings and six fireplaces. Additionally, the property comes with a new elevator, modern security system and a 32-foot garden with fountain.
Ms. Cole didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Upper East Side townhouses had a robust 2017, with the most closed sales (66) and the highest average sales price ($13.6 million) in the city, according to a year-end report by townhouse specialist Leslie J. Garfield.
The neighborhood had 17 sales priced $15 million and above in 2017, including two blockbusters sales on the 64th Street: the $79.5-million sale of 19 East 64th St. and $61.5-million sale of 715 Madison Ave., according to the Leslie J. Garfield report.
A townhouse on 69th Street owned by billionaire Vincent Violais currently under contract for $80 million and will potentially become the most expensive townhouse in Manhattan.