The Manhattan town house where the late musical theater composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim lived for approximately 60 years has a lucky new owner. According to the Wall Street Journal, Sondheim’s estate was able to get the full $7 million asking price on the sale of his Turtle Bay Gardens home. As told by Compass listing agent Michael Franco who held the listing, the coveted dwelling garnered plenty of interest as it was well-priced and came with some serious Broadway cachet. Although the buyer has not yet been revealed, Franco told the WSJ that they are “a Sondheim fan” and that they plan to use the 5,700-square-foot town house as their primary residence.
Sondheim bought the five-story abode in 1960 and held on to the property until his death in 2021. The 19-foot-wide residence is part of a sought-after group of 20 historic homes from the 1800s, established as Turtle Bay Gardens in 1920. The homes surround a private garden. Writers E.B. White and Robert Gottlieb resided in one of the houses, while actor Katharine Hepburn was also once a neighbor of Sondheim’s.
Sondheim is said to have paid for the house with proceeds that came after writing the lyrics for hit productions West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959). “I realized that with the royalties from the recent success of Gypsy, I could afford a down payment,” the composer said in the 2008 book Manhattan’s Turtle Bay: Story of a Midtown Neighborhood. “And then I rented out the top three floors of the town house to help me pay the mortgage.”
The icon’s former abode was built in 1899. One of the home’s highlights is the second floor’s solarium, which leads to a 30-foot terrace overlooking the garden courtyard. The sunlit room is lined with original stained glass windows. Near the solarium is Sondheim’s former music studio, which comes complete with built-in bookshelves and a wood-burning fireplace. Separating the spaces is a dramatic wood-paneled archway. The dining room on the first floor is adorned with classical motifs and has French doors that open to the communal gardens. The entire fourth floor is occupied by the primary suite and the fifth floor houses a studio that comes with a kitchenette and another terrace.
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Sondheim, who also composed the beloved musicals Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods, earned numerous accolades throughout his long career, including a Pulitzer Prize, an Oscar, seven Grammys, and nine Tonys.
