A Fifth Avenue townhouse has closed for $42 million, the highest price paid for a New York City townhouse this year, according to the New York Observer. The 15,225-square-foot property, at 973 Fifth Avenue between East 78th and East 79th Streets, has been marketed since last June by Paula Del Nunzio of Brown Harris Stevens with a listing price of $49 million.
The home was designed in the first decade of the 20th century by Stanford White for Henry Cook, a banker and railroad tycoon that owned the entire blocks of East 78th and East 79th streets between Madison and Fifth avenues. Prior to Del Nunzio’s listing it had not been on the market in more than 30 years, when it sold for $660,000 to Victor Shafferman, a businessman who died in 2009.
The identity of the buyer is not known, although recent reports suggested he or she hails from America.
The sale comes just one day after the $40 million sale of the late Ted Forstmann’s townhouse hit public records. While it marks the largest townhouse sale of 2012 it’s still $11 million short of the all-time record achieved by the Harkness Mansion, which sold for $53 million in 2006 but has since been sold for far less. [NYO]