Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times The postwar co-op building at 733 Park Avenue, on the corner of 71st Street, has just 28 residences.An opulent and meticulously renovated Manhattan duplex penthouse owned by the same family of Impressionist art connoisseurs for decades at 733 Park Avenue sold for its $21 million asking price and was the most expensive sale of the week, according to city records. The amenities at the co-op building, a white-glove establishment with just 28 residences, include a wine cellar and a gym.
The brown-brick building, at 71st Street, one of a few postwar structures on this stretch of the avenue, was erected in 1972 on the site of a 0-room mansion designed by Carrère & Hastings in 1905; it was aggressively positioned to capture park and city views. The 4,250-square-foot penthouse, on the 30th and 31st floors, is further enlivened by 1,250 square feet of lushly planted terraces, one of them an east-facing Zen-style terrace accessible from the wood-paneled library, which like the corner living room has parquet de Versailles floors and a carved marble fireplace.
A private elevator landing opens onto a two-story foyer with double-height windows that face Central Park; a curving staircase connects the two levels of the nine-room residence. There are three bedrooms and three and a half baths, as well as a staff room with a bath. The formal dining room, which opens onto a terrace, seats 20, and the French country kitchen and adjoining breakfast room were recently remodeled. An indulgent master bedroom suite has its own private terrace, a marble bath and a double dressing room. The monthly maintenance is $14,420.07.
The apartment was sold by the estate of Ethel Strong Allen, a philanthropist who died in June. Mrs. Allen was the widow of Herbert A. Allen Sr., a Wall Street investor and a partner in Allen & Company, which was founded in 1922 by his older brother, Charles. In the 1980s Allen & Company was one of the earliest firms to develop an expertise in, and reap huge rewards from, corporate takeovers. Mr. Allen died in 1997.
The ceilings of the penthouse top out above nine feet, making the home an inviting showplace for the Allens’ extensive art collection. Mrs. Allen bequeathed three important works â€" a Sisley, a Pissarro and a Monet masterpiece, “Nymphéas†â€" to the Hackley School in Tarrytown, N.Y., which was attended by three generations of the family. When the paintings were sold in November at a Christie’s auction, a buyer paid $43.76 million for the Monet, at the time believed to be the second-highest price ever paid for a work by that artist.
Barbara Fox and Bra Loe of the Fox Residential Group were the listing brokers for the Allen estate, and Bruce Rabbino of Halstead Property represented the buyer, identified in city records as Park Avenue Family Trust Agreement. The buyer listed an estate in Short Hills, N.J., as its current home address.
Across town, a loftlike duplex sold for $15.575 million at the Trump International Hotel and Tower at 1 Central Park West. The 4,266-square-foot apartment, No. 4950C, was owned (and made over) by the fashion mogul Andrew Rosen, a founder of the Theory label. The unit was originally listed last year by Kyle W. Blackmon of Brown Harris Stevens at $18 million. The asking price was recently reduced to $16.4 million. Presumably the buyer, identified as a limited-liability company, Huddygirl, prefers river and city views, which the duplex offers in magnitude, to park views, which it lacks.
Big Ticket includes closed listings from the previous week, ending Wednesday.
