Wednesday, March 08, 2023

Lena Slept Here


I see another celebrity apartment has just found a new owner. 

The New York Post reports that after just more than a month on the market, Lena Horne’s former home has found a buyer for its listing price. The late Broadway icon’s former Upper East Side perch traded hands for the $2.19 million it asked upon listing back in October. The buyer, a real-estate broker herself -- scooped up the unit after 38 days on the market, public records show. 


The 2,100-square-foot unit at 23 E. 74th St. is located a block from Central Park in The Volney, a building that was once a historic hotel before being converted into a co-op.

The Brooklyn-born Horne -- who had an illustrious career as both an entertainer and a civil rights -- first moved into the building in the early 1980s and lived there until her death, The Post previously reported. The unit was previously a separate one-bedroom and a studio, but Horne combined the two into the sprawling space that remained her sanctuary.

Wikipedia writes that Horne died of congestive heart failure at age 92 on May 9, 2010. Her funeral took place at St. Ignatius Loyola Church on Park Avenue in New York, where she had been a member. Thousands gathered and attendees included: Leontyne Price, Dionne Warwick, Liza Minnelli, Jessye Norman, Chita Rivera, Cicely Tyson, Diahann Carroll, Leslie Uggams, Lauren Bacall, Robert Osborne, Audra McDonald, and Vanessa Williams. Her remains were cremated.

Horne’s daughter, the journalist Gail Buckley, inherited the two-bathroom, fifth-floor abode upon Horne’s death — and it was Buckley who put the unit on the market in the fall.

Have a look inside BELOW. The "maintenance" for the building is a mere $5,840 a month.







See the StreetEasy listing HERE.

1 comment:

VRCooper said...

What a beautiful home!!

I would buy it if I had the extra cash. Let me check the couch cushions.

I liked the idea of combining a studio with a one-bedroom. Gives one stretching-out room but is not too big.

I lived in DC for a spell and I had a friend who lived in a good-sized studio and his elder next-door neighbor lived in a one-bedroom. When she died she left her place to him. They were in the process of combing the two. They did place a doorway to the other unit. Where I live now, my HOA forbids combining units.

One thing that startles me in NY is the monthly maintenance fees-HOA. For this unit, it is just over $5,000 a month. I know all things are relative but compared to $475. that I pay in Dever for an 830 sq. ft. condo is apples to oranges. You may have heard of Tom Berklund-actor-realtor who lives in NY. I kvetch to him all the time about housing in NY.