An early 20th century New York mansion, decked out in marble and exemplifying the affluence of the city’s Gilded Age, has been put on the market for the first time in decades.
The James FD Lanier House, in Murray Hill between Park and Lexington avenues, was last sold in 1984 for $4.2 million and now has an asking price of $33m.
The building is one of the largest single-family homes in New York. It is 20 metres tall and spans more than 1,000 square metres over eight floors. Gilded Age socialites James and Harriet Lanier commissioned Hoppin and Koen to design the property, the architectural firm responsible for Springwood in Hyde Park, where American president Franklin D Roosevelt lived and worked.
The Lanier House was classified by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission as representative of the Parisian Beaux-Arts style. Listed in the National Register of Historic Palaces it is full of impressive architectural features, including carved stonework, wrought-iron balustrades, a copper roof, Ionic pilasters and solid tiger oak double doors.
The mansion has nine bedrooms, including five suites, seven bathrooms, as well as bedrooms for staff. The reception hall has a marble fountain and a rose medallion ceiling decorated with a crystal chandelier.
The mansion’s eight floors are connected by a mahogany staircase and wood-panelled lift. Three skylights ensure the space gets plenty of natural light.
Amenities include a gym, sauna, pool, massage room, wine cellar, and a courtyard garden with ivy-strewn trellises and a stone fountain.
While the Laniers were the mansion's first owners when it was built more than a century ago, it is unclear who currently owns the property. According to the New York Post, the 1984 deed shows a transfer from Unicorp American, a bank, which then sold the property to Peori Corporation NV, a company based in Curacao, an island in the South Caribbean Sea.
