This $21 Million N.Y.C. Townhouse Has an 83-Foot Rock-Climbing Wall Hidden Inside
Just around the corner from the venerable Comedy Cellar in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village, the tall, slender townhouse at 16 Minetta Lane looks at a glance like a charming if fairly typical historic residence in lower Manhattan with operable wooden shutters over the windows on the lower three floors. As you scan up the building, however, you quickly realize that this is anything but an ordinary residence.
Recently listed with Diane Wildowsky and Lonni Levy of Sotheby’s International Realty–Downtown Manhattan Brokerage with an asking price pushing up on $21 million, the suis generis townhouse has been completely reimagined over a decade at a cost of over $2.5 million by architect Adam Kushner as his family home. Altogether, there are four bedrooms and four bathrooms, plus an additional powder room, distributed over roughly 4,200 square feet.
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Beyond the fanciful iron entry gates and a petite courtyard perfect for parking scooters and bikes, a complicated layout unfolds over five floors and two conjoined buildings that include a series of internal courtyards and terraces, one of which has an 83-foot-tall rock-climbing wall. These are not, however, and by far, the only unusual features within this house. There are multiple working fireplaces, some in unexpected spots, a couple of hidden water features, a retractable glass roof over the bed in the top-floor primary bedroom, and a three-sided glass elevator that’s suspended between the buildings.
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The wrought iron and glass front door opens informally right into the combination dining area and kitchen. On the back wall, a marble countertop continues all the way to the ceiling with a fireplace raised to counter level for cooking, while the island is topped with a live-edge slab of red oak. The elevator and the curved staircase lined with a wall of windows take one up to the 23-foot-high living room. There are two mirrored fireplaces (one directly over the other but 10 feet in the air!) and the opposite wall was conceived as an art piece with a towering stack of wood that rises through the switchback staircase. The landings between floors provide options for a home office, children’s play area, or a library.
A glass-walled meditation space on the third floor opens to a grass-covered balcony tucked behind a lattice screen that embellishes the façade on the upper levels. Vines wrap the exoskeletal structure and bring a natural element into intimate proximity to the urban abode. A pair of bedrooms on the fourth floor share a bathroom and can be joined into a single bedroom, while the penthouse-level primary suite has a fireplace, a dressing area and bathroom with a glass shower that’s exposed to the bedroom area.
The rear structure, accessible via the ground-level courtyard or, more interestingly, by passing through the elevator, houses a duplexed bedroom with an ensuite bath and a small gym in an all-glass greenhouse pavilion. A roof terrace is complete with an outdoor kitchen and city views—it’s also the terminus for the rock-climbing wall—and the whole shebang sits atop a finished basement featuring the original stone foundation and wooden beams. Complementing the subterranean speakeasy-style lounge and wet bar is a steam shower-equipped bathroom along with extensive storage and an oversized laundry room.
Click here for more photos of 16 Minetta Lane.
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