Music megastar Taylor Swift is most likely the discreet buyer who snapped up this early 20th century Manhattan townhouse this week, if the legal and transactional trails are any indication. The purchase price for the three-story residence was $18 million.
The house dates to 1915, and extends to a little less than 5,150 square feet. There are four bedrooms and 4.5 baths throughout the 27’ wide building.
As of 2011, the home’s interiors had been renovated as contemporary, Eastern-inflected, with little in the way of ornamental distraction in the living spaces. The result was a meditative atmosphere, with little to distract from the lines of the interior architecture itself except the brooding quality of the design vision, and the visual texture provided by some of the materials.
Custom wood paneling and cabinetry, wide-plank floors, natural stone tile and stone accents, and absolutely contemporary fixtures were used in the townhouse. And a few of the stylistic flourishes were really striking, and are capable of surprise: the floating staircase in black, for example. Or the wet bar in black and vermillion—a neat trick to pull that off without disaster, and yet the design vision seems to do so, although the staying power of that kind of dramatic novelty may be short if you’re actually living with it. The home theater, too, was played well as of 2011; also not easy, as that particular room is so completely defined by its purpose.
Elsewhere, though, the vision may have become a little too detached for its own good; the baths were downright clinical. The third-floor great room lit by the large skylight, though. Wow.
Swift is a supremely talented singer and songwriter. Her much-anticipated new studio album, ‘Reputation,’ is due for release November 10. The album’s two released singles have topped pop charts in the U.S. and elsewhere.
