The seven-storey, 20,000-square-foot (1,858 sqm) home at 4 East 80th Street was originally listed for $90 million (AUD 137 million) in 2011 but has had subsequent price cuts since.
The Real Deal reported this latest price cut follows the recent sale of another Gilded Age mansion just a block away. The townhouse at 973 Fifth Avenue, which had been on the market for four years, landed a buyer last month after its price was reduced to $50 million.
The mansion, originally built in 1915 for Helena Woolworth McCann, daughter of retail magnate Frank Woolworth, boasts nine bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, and grand interiors featuring a mosaic floor, stained glass skylight, wood-panelled dining room, library, gym, elevator, solarium, and sauna.
The Roberts family, heirs to late fitness mogul Lucille Roberts, purchased the home for $6 million (AUD 9.2 million) in 1995 and spent years restoring it. Despite attempts to sell, including an ambitious 2011 listing that would have made it the most expensive townhouse sale in New York history, the property remained unsold.
The mansion briefly made headlines in 2012 when it was vandalised with white paint and BB pellets—an act suspected to have been carried out by a disgruntled former employee of Lucille Roberts’ gym chain.
In 2021, the Roberts family secured a renter for the home at $80,000 (AUD 122,000) per month.
Now, with a significantly reduced price tag, the listing agency, Modlin Group, says the historic Woolworth Mansion presents a rare opportunity for buyers looking to own a piece of Manhattan’s Gilded Age history.
