Art dealer pays $17M for Burkina Faso’s former UN residence

Swedish art dealer Per Skarstedt has plunked down $17.3 million for an Upper East Side townhouse formerly used by Burkina Faso’s permanent representative to the United Nations.

The sale, which hit property records Tuesday, was more than two years in the making, according to Skarstedt’s broker, Lynda Wiggins of Brown Harris Stevens.

The five-story townhouse, at 115 East 73rd Street between Park and Lexington Avenues, was originally listed in 2012 and spent just 18 days on the market, according to StreetEasy.

“Per really wanted it,” said Wiggins. “We spoke like every two weeks for like two and a half years. Then the broker called me and said it was back on.”

Owen Robinson of UN General Realtors Group LLC, based in Queens, was the listing broker. “It took three years to be approved by the government,” he said.

The West African country of Burkina Faso, then known as Upper Volta, bought the property in 1975 for an unknown amount. The house was landmarked in 1982.

Wiggins said the 10,000-square-foot mansion would be gut renovated. “It needs everything,” she said. She said the house was designed by architects Buchman & Fox, who also designed the Sherry-Netherland Hotel. It has 12-foot ceilings on each floor, floor-to-ceiling windows on the second floor and a garden in the back.

Wiggins said Skarstedt plans to use the townhouse as a residence. His eponymous gallery has three locations — 20 E. 79th Street, 550 West 21st Street and 23 Old Bond Street in London.