Ivana Trump’s townhouse might be the Upper East Side’s quirkiest listing

The Upper East Side townhouse owned by the late Ivana Trump has served as a source of intrigue for strident real estate watchers since it hit the market in the wake of the matriarch’s death. 

The home at 10 East 64th Street has been on the market for five months, and in that time opened up a look at a fixture of New York City and questions about possible buyers the New York Times reported. While hardly an unprecedented amount of time to be for sale, questions about the price, design and the last name of its last resident are gaining traction.

The $26.5 million listing is held by the Modlin Group’s Adam Modlin and Douglas Elliman’s Roger Erickson. A representative for Modlin declined to comment to the outlet. 

Eric, Ivana’s eldest son with Donald Trump and vice president at the Trump Organization, is in charge of the townhouse sale. The three children will divide the proceeds from a deal for the home.

Ivana purchased the five-story, 20-foot-wide townhouse for $2.5 million in 1992, shortly after her divorce from the developer. She then went about transforming the former dental office into a prize of her real estate portfolio.

An extensive renovation with George Gregorian, a designer who had worked with her on the Trumps’ Plaza Hotel, turned the property into an opulent townhouse that is ripe for updates by any potential buyer.  

Inside a limestone facade, the entrance features red carpets, pink marble lashings, a crystal chandelier and a statue. Upper floors are accessed by a curved marble staircase or a birdcage elevator. Parts of the home are also covered in gold fabric. 

Dennis Basso, a fashion designer and longtime associate of the late matriarch, said it was “her idea of” glam. 

“It’s a pretty facade,” he said. “But no one is buying the place and not redoing it. It may have been done by the best designer of its period, but nobody with this kind of money wants a 30-year-old bathroom, and that’s how long she was in that apartment.”

Ivana grew more reluctant to leave the home even as pandemic lockdown orders lifted, sparking concern among her friends and family in the years before she died in the home after falling down a flight of stairs.

Nikki Haskell, a friend of Ivana’s since the 1970s, told the Times the breakdown of the Trumps’ marriage and his eventual presidency wore on the matriarch, who wouldn’t leave the home despite encouraging. 

“I begged her to get rid of it and move into a full-service residence at the Pierre,” said Haskell, referencing the luxury Midtown hotel. “But Ivana was Ivana. She did exactly what she wanted to do.”

The home hit the market after the record highs of the pandemic housing market, when prices seemed to be coming back to Earth. Gianni Versace’s former townhouse, across the street at 5 East 64th Street, hit the market a year ago for $70 million and has since had its price reduced to $60 million.

Beyond the home’s quirks, the landscape of Manhattan’s luxury market means the home likely has longer to wait. A weekly report by Olshan Realty on signed contracts for homes in the borough asking $4 million or more said those with deals between April 17 and 23 ​​spent an average 571 days on the market. 

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— Holden Walter-Warner