A historic Upper East Side townhouse has sold for $15.25 million, almost one third off the original asking price. It’s not immediately clear who the buyer is.
The five-story home at 154 E. 63rd St. was originally asking $21.8 million in 2019.
The four-bedroom property’s paneled library is where Fiorello La Guardia was sworn in as mayor in 1934.
The 32-foot-wide home is 8,000 square feet. It’s a combination of two rowhouses by architect Frederick Sterner, who also lived in the home. (He also did a combo across the street, which was home to burlesque legend Gypsy Rose Lee and, later, filmmaker Spike Lee.)
This property’s seller is the estate of Diana King, a daughter of Charles King, whose production company was best known for syndicated TV hits like “Jeopardy!” and “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
Diana King bought the home for around $3.7 million in 1992 as a pied-a-terre and ‘entertaining venue’ for her philanthropic ventures, including events for the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation, which she created to support education in TV and film production.
The building features a central courtyard that sits directly in front of a detached rear great room with 20-foot vaulted ceilings. Other touches include stained and leaded glass windows, eight fireplaces, a solarium, a media room and a rare two-car garage. The listing brokers were Chris Kann and the late Robby Browne, of the Corcoran Group. The buyer was repped by Matt Lesser and Ravi Kantha of Leslie J. Garfield.