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Milton Glaser’s Kips Bay office townhouse sells to New York Review of Books
Legendary graphic designer bought the former Tammany Hall clubhouse in 1965
The Kips Bay office townhouse owned by legendary graphic designer Milton Glaser, who created the “I ❤️ NY” logo, finally sold.
The 9,000-square-foot building at 207 East 32nd Street sold for $7.5 million, or $833 per square foot, according to Adelaide Polsinelli, a vice-chair at Compass. Polsinelli began marketing the property in 2019, and had hoped to sell it for $12 million before the pandemic struck.
The buyer is the literary magazine The New York Review of Books, which currently occupies an office at 435 Hudson Street in Tribeca. The NYRB did not return a call for comment.
The Beaux-Arts building dates back to 1902, and was designed by Robert L. Lyons as a clubhouse for members of the Tammany Hall Central Association. The leader of this division of Tammany Hall was ousted as the property was being completed, and it was soon leased to the city as a court. It features ornate exterior details, including a glass transom etched with “Art is Work” and stone lions that glare down from its mansard roof.
Glaser bought the property in 1965, and it became home to New York magazine, which Glaser founded in 1968 with Clay Felker. After the magazine relocated in 1974, Glaser’s office remained.
It was here he designed his most famous logo — for free, in an effort to bolster New York’s lagging reputation in the 1970s — as well an iconic Bob Dylan album cover, the logo for the Brooklyn Brewery and a gold bottle for Trump Vodka, along with many other works.
Polsinelli said she targeted non-traditional users before identifying two that loved the property.
Glaser, who was intimately involved in the sale until his death on June 26, was delighted that the buyer is also a leader in the literary arts, Polsinelli said.