Author Norman Mailer called a townhouse in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of New York City home before he died in 2007, and now his heirs are selling the top-floor apartments. Scroll down for a look inside.
The apartments encompass two units on the third and fourth floor of 142 Columbia Heights.
The landmarked four-story, walk-up brownstone built in 1840 overlooks Brooklyn Bridge Park and the East River. Mailer once owned the entire building but converted it into a co-op in the 1970s, his son Michael told the Wall Street Journal.
Mailer renovated the fourth-floor apartment where he lived to look like a ship.
It was once “outfitted with gangplanks, hammocks and trapeze and a jungle gym by the [author], who wished to overcome his fear of heights.”
It has a two-story glass and wood atrium.
Mailer’s heirs previously listed the home in 2011 but a contract they had fell through “when the buyers realized the atrium wasn’t up to code.” Now it is.
Here’s what that skylight looks like from the exterior.
The sloped wooden ceiling of the living room remains.
There are multiple terraces.
With views of Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Statue of Liberty.
A separate one-bedroom apartment on the third floor is also part of the listing.
It could be combined with the fourth-floor unit, bringing the total area to 1,636 square feet.
Michael Mailer told the Wall Street Journal that multiple ex-wives of his father lived in the apartment at the same time.
“I love this place but it will always be my Dad’s place,” the younger Mailer told the Journal. “I’ve enjoyed the vibrations of living there but it’s time to move on.”
For $2.4 million, this piece of literary history could be yours.
Here’s a link to the CORE listing.