B
y an Emmy‑winning Curbed writer who has covered New York City for four years, this year’s most talked‑about listing stories showcase the city’s most eccentric and luxurious properties. The pieces are a mix of architectural oddities, historic gems, and modern marvels, each accompanied by striking photography from Gabriel Sebastian, Niko Strbac, Lena Yaremenko, Max Vasiluk, and others.
The headline attraction is a 27‑room maisonette that never appeared on the market. Its fabricated Park Avenue address, Louis XIII‑era woodwork from Château de Courcelles, and a living room that may rank as the city’s second‑largest have drawn intense curiosity. The last owner, a member of the Sackler family, died this year, making a sale likely.
Other standout properties include a penthouse with a 160‑foot terrace that once hosted Carole King and now serves as a dog run for nine Cavalier King Charles spaniels. A 27‑room maisonette, a 160‑foot terrace, and a 50‑foot skybridge between towers on East 78th Street illustrate the city’s penchant for the extraordinary. The skybridge, owned by President Trump’s diet guru, is touted by a broker as an ideal art gallery.
Architectural history is highlighted through stories such as Robert Lym Jr.’s early work under I.M. Pei, culminating in a flawless house on Hamptons farmland. A 1963 Westchester home, once a horse stable, boasts a domed atrium, circular fireplace, and Japanese soaking tub—an anomaly in a firm known for Manhattan skyscrapers.
A whimsical townhouse from the era when architects began to be seen as artists features parquet floors, dark‑wood cabinetry, cast‑iron façade motifs of ferns, sunbursts, and animal heads, and a loggia with fish‑scale tiles that hosts a blow‑up Halloween pumpkin. The Lenox Hill “Bubble House,” with its bulging porthole windows, was built during the moon‑landing year by an obscure architect and later owned by a Park Avenue rabbi who installed a massive hot tub.
The 1972 house by R. Scott Bromley appears simple but hides luxury: a skylight‑lit shower, floorboards that run diagonally toward a 45‑degree‑angled pool, and a design choice born from a preference for barefoot walking. A West 78th Street townhouse, once touched by two future New York architectural giants, showcases a façade of tiny details from the Grand Central Oyster Bar architect and interiors renovated by a Columbia professor who later built a planetarium.
The 1980s apartment scene is contrasted with today’s market, where brokers no longer offer penthouses on demand. The former Al Nevins apartment on 57th Street, once a 160‑foot terrace for Carole King, now serves as a dog run, illustrating the shift in luxury living.
These stories, rich in detail and visual appeal, allow readers to peek inside spaces that are otherwise off‑limits. The 27‑room maisonette, in particular, remains a favorite, offering a glimpse into a world of opulence that is both rare and almost unattainable.
