Thursday, November 6, 2008

Pen & Brush Club

I was walking past the Pen & Brush Club and noticed this For Sale sign on their townhouse at 16 East 10th Street.

In this building since 1923, they've been offering services, networking, and camaraderie to women in the arts for over a century. They also host several cultural events per year that are open and free to the public.



The building is listed with Prudential for $13,525,000. Says the ad: "You have a chance to own a piece of history. This 25' wide townhouse...was originally built in 1848 and has original detail throughout with 14' ceilings, parquet floors, elaborate crown moldings, rounded arch ways, original staircase and 11 marble fireplaces."

The New Yorker Book Bench blog has more info, saying the sale is due to the high cost of heating oil. Blogger Vicky Raab mourns the loss, writing, "it’s a unique historic asset for women in arts and letters to lose... Where else can women rent studio space for reasonable rates on one of the best blocks in Greenwich Village? Or curl up in a library overlooking a sculpture garden, which boasts works by its members Eleanor Roosevelt and Pearl Buck? Or wander through elegant galleries that host member and juried art shows and readings by fiction writers and playwrights?"

Yet again, another meaningful, historic space that once was available for the benefit of the public will be given over into private hands. I'm sure it will make a lovely mansion for some lucky couple.


Photo: Brian Dube at NY Daily Photo

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sad.

But the high cost of heating oil?

Why not put those 11 fireplaces to use...?

Jeremiah Moss said...

ha! excellent question

Ken Mac said...

This is how it happens. Little things, unknown spots and spaces just disappear...and there goes the neighborhood....

Anonymous said...

Guess this will become a pied-a-terre for a Master of the Universe and his trophy wife.

L'Emmerdeur said...

And by "high cost of heating oil" they mean to say "OMG THIRTEEN MILLION GIMMAH".

Good luck selling, folks. There's a bunch of other similar brownstones that have had similar signs up for one, two, three years, all looking for $10 million and up, all on the handful of streets from 9th to 13th, between Broadway and 6th Avenue, all still on the market.

5 years. 75% haircut on that offer price. Call me crazy. I'm used to it after eight years. I'm printing cards with the words "I Told You So" so I don't lose my voice.