Inferno rips through historic UES townhouse as blizzard arrives

The home at East 84th Street was once owned by RE lawyer David Rozenholc

The fire at 7 East 84th Street (Credit: @cherrycokemjj via Instagram)
The fire at 7 East 84th Street (Credit: @cherrycokemjj via Instagram)

As emergency workers battled a major snowstorm, a large fire tore through an historic mansion on the Upper East Side that sold for $27 million last year.

The inferno broke out at the 13,000-square-foot Flemish brick mansion at 7 East 84th Street around 2:25 a.m., the New York Daily News reported. The eight-bedroom home was once owned by famed New York City tenant lawyer David Rozenholc, who sold it for $27 million early last year to an unidentified Illinois-based investor who controls the entity LF Investments LLC.

The house was empty when the fire started, officials said, but neighbors had to evacuate their buildings. A video posted to Instagram shows flames and thick plumes of smoke coming out of the second-story window, while firefighters gather on the street below.

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“We heard the fire trucks. It woke us up with the smoke,” Thomas Malesys, who had to evacuate his home, told the newspaper.

The fire was under control by 6 a.m. Tuesday.

The townhouse — which features 10 full bathrooms, a butler’s pantry, wine cellar and private garage — was built in 1884, according to a 1977 report for the Metropolitan Museum Historic District. [NYDN] — Miriam Hall