“Ugly duckling” of a townhouse returns to the market asking $26M

A gauche Upper East Side townhouse once called an “ugly duckling” by the New York Times has hit the market asking $25.9 million.

Located at 7 East 69th Street, the six-story property was listed for $29.9 million three years ago. After a $4 million haircut, the current asking price works out to $3,407 per foot.

The owner — identified in property records as SBP 69th Street LLC, in Lake Placid, New York — paid $16 million for the house in 2012. The seller was the estate of Edward Baron Cohen, former head of Cohen Brothers Realty.

Cohen picked up the house for just $4.5 million in 1988, and set out to embellish the house that he deemed a “horror” pre-renovation. Cohen lived there until he died in 2009.

Measuring 7,600 square feet, the house has six bedrooms, two wood-burning fireplaces and two rooftop terraces. For better or worse, it’s adorned with marble floors, ornate wallpaper, gold moldings and gilded bathrooms. Yuri Gaspar of Terra Nova has the listing. [Curbed] — E.B. Solomont