Steinway Mansion in Astoria on the market for nearly $3.5 million

The Steinway Mansion in Astoria

The Steinway Mansion in Queens is back on the market for nearly $ 3.5 million after a two-week hiatus, the Queens Chronicle reported. Sotheby’s International Realty has taken over Prudential Douglas Elliman’s effort to sell the landmarked home at 18-33 41st St. in Astoria. But historical experts still the hope the home, associated with the well-known piano company Steinway & Sons, can be made available to the public. The company is within walking distance of the house, but its gross profits in 2010 were a fraction of the house’s listing price. Because the home is landmarked, it cannot be torn down. Various historical societies have lobbied the city to buy the house in order to showcase its historic value to New Yorkers. The house was built in the 1850s and bought by German immigrant William Steinway in the 1870s. It was sold to the Halberian family after his death, and the daughter of Michael Halbarian, who died last December, is now the estate’s executor. Steinway oversaw the construction of Steinway Hall, a classical music concert hall that was the home of the New York Philharmonic for 25 years until the construction of Carnegie Hall, helped created the neighborhood that would become Astoria, and even submitted blueprints for the first New York City subway in 1891, according to the Chronicle. It had previously been listed for $4.5 million last fall. [Queens Chronicle]