The Hollywood icon Katharine Hepburn’s New York City townhouse has gone up for sale, asking $7.2 million, just over 20 years after her death at the age of 96. Hepburn purchased the five-story mansion in the famed Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan in 1931, as first reported by Crain’s New York. She lived there until her death in 2003, at which point her estate sold it to the Astoria Property Group, which is connected to a Mexican family, for nearly $4 million approximately a year later.
Known for her “vowels of a well-bred New Englander, often imitated voice,” Hepburn made her breakthrough performance in A Bill of Divorcement in 1932, costarring alongside John Barrymore. Throughout her extensive career, the Connecticut-born actress made appearances in over 40 films. Her performances in Morning Glory, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, The Lion in Winter, and On Golden Pond earned her four Oscars. She also owned a house on Long Island Sound at the time of her passing.
The property, which was first constructed in the late 1890s and has since undergone restoration and renovation, is 19 feet wide and has four bedrooms and an equal number of bathrooms distributed over a little more than 4,500 square feet. The first level, described as the “epitome of New York glamour” in marketing materials, is dominated by a stone-tiled entry foyer that opens to a gourmet kitchen with top-notch equipment, bespoke cabinetry, and built-in breakfast table and bench. The dining area by the fire, which opens to a 1,000-square-foot bi-level flagstone patio and a garden with access to a private park shared by the 20 nearby townhouses, is connected to a butler’s pantry equipped with a wine cooler.
The second level features a formal living room with a marble fireplace, three French doors that open to a terrace, a wet bar, and a quaint library/media room. The third floor is devoted to the main suite, which has a mirrored vanity constructed by Hepburn herself, a clawfoot soaking tub, a walk-in closet/dressing room, and an upgraded bathroom with dual sinks. Currently used as an office and seating area, another bedroom has a wood staircase leading to the top level, where two further bedrooms with walk-in closets and private bathrooms are located.
The listing, which is managed by Lisa Larson of Sotheby’s International Realty, also has a wine cellar, a laundry room, a half-bath, and storage space in the basement.
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