For decades, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Norman Mailer lived in a Brooklyn, N.Y., townhouse, transforming its top floor to look like a ship. Now the top-floor is on the market for $2.4 million, according to Mr. Mailer’s son Michael Mailer.
The author formerly owned the entire brownstone but turned it into a co-op in the 1970s, and sold the lower floors before his death in 2007, his son said. Norman Mailer wrote several of his best known novels while living there, including “The Executioner’s Song” and “Ancient Evenings.”
Located in the historic Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, the sale includes a two-bedroom apartment spanning the fourth floor and a separate one-bedroom on the third floor comprising a total of approximately 1,636 square feet. Used as a guest apartment, the second unit could be combined with the unit upstairs, according to the listing agent, Patrick Lilly of Core.
The main unit—a fourth-floor walk-up—also has multiple outdoor terraces with views of lower Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty.
Formerly outfitted with gangplanks, hammocks and trapeze and a jungle gym by the elder Mr. Mailer, who wished to overcome his fear of heights, the two-story atrium in the main unit is now mostly made up of glass. A sloping wood ceiling in the living room remains, and is reminiscent of a ship’s bow.
The younger Mr. Mailer, 54, is a film producer and director who produced the 2017 movie “Blind,” starring Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin. He said he is one of 9 children his father had with six different women.
Mr. Mailer recalled several of his father’s ex-wives living in the brownstone at the same time, and the children clambering on the jungle gym. “It was shocking that none of the kids had serious accidents,” he laughed. He recalled his father threw numerous parties at the home, frequented by the likes of John Lennon, Bob Dylan and Woody Allen.
The younger Mr. Mailer said he and his family have been living in the apartment for about four years. They previously tried to sell the home in 2011, but a contract of sale fell through when the buyers realized the atrium wasn’t up to code. He then got the atrium up to code before putting the property back on the market, he said. “I love this place but it will always be my Dad’s place,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed the vibrations of living there but it’s time to move on.”