--- title: See the Most Expensive Townhouse Ever Sold in New York City description: The massive price tag bests former New York City record-holder by nearly $27 million authors: - name: Taylor Tepper url: https://money.com/author/taylor-tepper-3/ at_money_since: 2013 articles: 168 covers: - Housing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://x.com/TaylorTepper former_staff: true published: '2017-04-06T18:02:21.000Z' modified: '2017-04-06T18:02:21.000Z' section: Housing tags: - most expensive homes - Nazi art word_count: 220 canonical: https://money.com/townhouse-newyorkcity-record-sale/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![New York City's most expensive townhouse, sells for $79.5](https://img.money.com/2017/04/ny-most-expensive-townhouse.jpg) *This 41-foot-wide limestone townhouse at 19 East 64th Street just sold for a record setting $79.5 million, according to city property records. The Upper East Side mansion has served as the Wildenstein family art gallery for more than 85 years.* A Depression-era mansion on Manhattan's Upper East Side sold yesterday for a record $79.5 million, [according to public records](https://a836-acris.nyc.gov/DS/DocumentSearch/DocumentDetail?doc_id=2017040500416001), making it by far the most ever paid for a New York City townhouse. That distinction used to belong to another Upper East Side property, the Harkness Mansion, when it sold in 2006 for $53 million. David Wildenstein, scion of his family's art fortune, reportedly sold the 41-foot-wide, 25,000 square foot limestone-clad mansion to a Chinese hedge fund, according to the *[New York Post](http://nypost.com/2017/04/05/citys-most-expensive-townhouse-just-sold-for-79-5m/)*. The Beaux Arts-style building, which has three stories and 20-foot high ceilings, housed the Wildenstein art gallery for almost a century. The property, though, is not without its share of controversy. Billionaire Len Blavatnik sued for millions last year after he believed Wildenstein reneged on a verbal agreement to sell his firm the townhouse for $79 million, according to Bloomberg. Blavatnik made the bid after the [government of Qatar,](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-05/manhattan-townhouse-fetches-79-5-million-setting-price-record) which was in talks to buy the property in 2014, balked at the last minute. The home was then put back on the market for $100 billion. News reports have accused the Wildenstein family fortune of being buoyed by an alleged history of dealing in [Nazi-stolen art](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/20/arts/design/wildenstein-art-gallery-is-beset-by-lawsuits.html). David's father Guy Wildenstein was [recently cleared](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/12/arts/design/guy-wildenstein-is-cleared-of-money-laundering-charges.html) of charges that he attempted to launder money to avoid a [French tax bill](http://nypost.com/2016/01/04/international-art-dealer-goes-on-trial-for-failing-to-pay-602m-tax-bill/). ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/townhouse-newyorkcity-record-sale/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Housing", "item": "https://money.com/housing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Real Estate", "item": "https://money.com/real-estate/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "See the Most Expensive Townhouse Ever Sold in New York City" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/townhouse-newyorkcity-record-sale/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/townhouse-newyorkcity-record-sale/", "name": "See the Most Expensive Townhouse Ever Sold in New York City", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2017-04-06T18:02:21.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/townhouse-newyorkcity-record-sale/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/townhouse-newyorkcity-record-sale/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2017-04-06T18:02:21.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "See the Most Expensive Townhouse Ever Sold in New York City", "articleSection": "Housing", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2017/04/ny-most-expensive-townhouse.jpg", "width": 2100, "height": 1411, "caption": "170406_19 East 64th Street" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Taylor Tepper", "url": "https://money.com/author/taylor-tepper-3/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/taylor-tepper-3/#author", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/05/14-05-21_bio_author_tepper1.jpg?quality=85&w=190&h=190&crop=1", "email": "ttepper@moneymail.com", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/TaylorTepper" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2017-04-06T18:02:21.000Z", "description": "The massive price tag bests former New York City record-holder by nearly $27 million", "abstract": "The massive price tag bests former New York City record-holder by nearly $27 million", "@id": "https://money.com/townhouse-newyorkcity-record-sale/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2017-04-06T18:02:21.000Z", "wordCount": 220, "keywords": [ "most expensive homes", "Nazi art" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Housing in the United States", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_in_the_United_States" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Real estate", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_estate" ] } ] } ] } ```