Description

Rarely available southwest-corner duplex at 257 West 86th Street. Spanning nearly 2,800 square feet, this legacy home combines dramatic scale, preserved craftsmanship, and three bright exposures—a unique opportunity to create a landmark-quality residence on the Upper West Side.

The centerpiece is a double-height living room with 20-foot ceiling, wood-burning fireplace, and the enormous steel casement studio window, that’s been just restored with high-efficiency glass panes that bathe the interior in even north light. Overlooking the living room are a pair of original galleries with wood balustrades, carved in the cross-braced lattice motif that recurs throughout the building. A west facing corner window gives the Living room a charming view over the neighboring church's Spanish tile roofline.

Original hardwood pocket doors slide open to reveal the 20-foot corner dining room made for big dinners with friends and family. Light pours through a trio of south-facing windows, with another large west-facing window provides open views over the church on West End Ave, down West 86th street, to leafy Riverside Park and the Hudson River.

The kitchen is well laid out and move in ready, featuring a new Bosch dishwasher, new GE refrigerator, and direct access to the pantry and private laundry. The adjacent fourth bedroom can be annexed by the adjacent spaces to form a truly grand 20x20-foot eat-in kitchen. Alternately, simply removing the 4th bedroom’s large closet would instantly open the existing kitchen, adding a warm and inviting breakfast room.

Perched upstairs on the southwest corner and illuminated by 5 windows, the primary bedroom offers perhaps the most impressive and enchanting bedside views in the entire neighborhood. Second and third bedrooms both include south exposures and generous closets. A pair of charming galleries overlook the centerpiece living room, while a quiet home office with original wood cabinetry is discretely positioned atop the home's staircase.

7-8B is currently configured as 4 bedrooms with a formal dining room and 2 full bathrooms, although the building’s other A and B-line duplexes typically have three bathrooms. The building allows expansive bathroom and kitchen layout improvements on approval. Private laundry is located off the kitchen, with new washer/dryer installations are also permitted. Adding further versatility, the sale includes a private, windowed room on the building’s ground floor—originally one of several staff rooms located just off the lobby—now perfectly suited as a secure personal archive or family collection space.

257 West 86th Street is a boutique cooperative, designed in 1906–07 by Pollard & Steinam, architects of the Hotel des Artistes and other landmark studio residences. At 257, they blended Beaux-Arts scale with Arts & Crafts detailing: soaring double-height living rooms framed by classical entablature and simplified, geometric ornament—a fusion unique to the pre-WWI era in New York architecture. The building offers a 24/7 lobby attendant/elevator operator, landscaped roof deck, a new gym, basement laundry, deeded storage for every unit, bike storage, and a full-time resident manager.

This is a rare chance to own a lasting pre-war home with scale, light, and architectural character at an attractively compelling value.
Listing courtesy of Sothebys International Realty ...
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