The Schinasi mansion, a gorgeous enigmatic 12,000-square-foot marble mansion on 107th street and Riverside Park, has finally found a buyer. The mansion, which has been on the market for about seven years, went into contract after the price was cut to $13.5 million, the New York Observer reported. The selling price is unclear.
The house was built in 1909, commissioned by Turkish cigarette baron Morris Schinasi. The Times wrote about it in 2007, a year after it hit the market:
“The result was a French Renaissance marble mansion with a sea-green tiled roof. Its three floors included an Egyptian marble hall inlaid with Turkish glass, a Louis XVI drawing room, a library, a smoking room and a reception hall. The pineapple, a traditional symbol of hospitality, is found throughout the house, set into the moldings in gold and bronze. Among the house’s unusual features is an underground passage to the Hudson River, now sealed.”
In 1983, Hans and Beverly Smit bought the house from Columbia University for $325,000 and spent more than 20 years renovating it. They first tried to sell it for $31 million in 2006, but cut the price several times. The Observer hears that even after the renovations the mansion still needed quite a bit of work, which may have dissuaded some buyers. “Many people have wanted to see it over the years, but many people have been disappointed. When you stepped in, it was like stepping back in time,” the broker told the Observer. “The woodwork was distorted, the ceilings were beautiful but crumbling, the exterior was in bad shape. I guess it’s been habitable all these years, but it needs a lot of work.”
Corcoran, which listed the house, says it’s the only freestanding single-family mansion in Manhattan. Check out the floor plan below:
Top photo via Wikimedia commons. Floor plan and interior via Corcoran.
All it needs now is one of those ultra-modern white penthouses added on the roof, with an elevator down to the backyard, and some yuppie banker (and his wife and obligatory three kids) will be in seventh heaven!
Wait — Is there space to park the Mercedes SUV? Maybe they could use the sealed-off passage to the Hudson River as a garage!
Hey, maybe the guy who turned 226 West 71st into that nightmare extra floor brownstone with the white hat can take a shot at this one.
Hans Smit was a legend at Columbia Law School, where he was a professor. Terrifying to many first years, as he sought to give us the experience of the true Socratic method, and a generous and kind advisor to many second and third years. I remember talking to him about this house, and he seemed to really love it. He did say it was the last free-standing home in Manhattan, and that seemed to tickle him. I hope the new owners treat it well.
I hear Stuart Little lives there, but no rats.
OMG!!! The closet is bigger than my small NYC UWS apt. OMG!!!
This is also the fictional setting for Neil’s house on White Collar! It supposedly on the UES, but everyone knows the prettiest homes are on the UWS! (another example: 666 Park Avenue set on the UES but set used the Ansonia on W 76)
Hans was my uncle, and when he bought it in ’80 he put me & a buddy (as well as any family members, friends he could find…) to work loading 40 ton containers with all the crap that the previous tenants had left. It had been a childrens pre-school who let it get rat infested and totally dilapidated – a miserable, complete mess is an understatement. He bought it and told them he was going to kick them out in like 6 months…they didn’t believe him and stonewalled so he gave them another 6 months. 6 months came & went…and…so did they. When he booted them they couldn’t believe it and called in the news stations who filmed the kids holding signs & pickets saying ‘Hans Smit Hates Kids’ – 4, 5, and 6 year olds…on the evening news: it was quite amusing. The Spectator ran the headline: ‘Hans Smit: King of West Side Realty!’ He liked that. Place was the best – friends and i stayed there every time came home from school or from out of town. Here’s to Hans, and the Mansion…
I walk past this historic mansion every day, and it is a joy to see — as much as you can from the outside looking in — how much care has gone into preserving it. I played the huge Powerball lottery earlier this year specifically hoping to buy it! I hope the new owners care for it as much as the current owners and love it as much as its neighbors do.