More than a few surprises await in art dealer Martin Zimet’s townhouse. If the residence has a direct opposite in the design universe, it would be a New England traditional. The home has been on and off the market since 2014, but hasn’t seen a reduction as of yet.
Priced at $40 million, the home is not for the financially or decoratively tremulous. The five floors of Zimet’s longtime home feature a provocative blend of textures, angles, wildly varied stylistic elements and materials—the desired effect is to send a shudder of circumspection through those poor souls afflicted with design torpor. Adventurous? Yes. As a whole, it’s an abstraction: that’s a pretty neat trick to pull off as far as interior design, and not wind up with a simple expression of chaos or confusion. But, since Zimet called the townhouse home for nearly half a decade, the overall effect is surely the result of accumulation, and not a pretense of iconoclasm. It feels a little like a museum set-piece.
The residence measures 9,440 square feet, and contains five bedrooms. The roof, from within, is a coffered skylight; the painterly illumination of the space, maybe.
The townhouse at 17th E. 65th, known as the Fairchild Mansion dates to 1941, and is associated with the founder of Fairchild Aviation, a company that now includes Fairchild Semiconductor. It is currently both Zimet’s home and place of business.
