*iver *ouse

A former vice president of Goldman Sachs, Roy Zuckerberg, and wife Barbara have just sold their apartment for $10.1 million. The home is part of the super-exclusive River House at 435 East 53rd Street. The buyers are Christopher M. Toub, the director of equity at Alliance Bernstein Investments, and Firoozeh Foulon.

Details of the Zuckerbergs' apartment have yet to emerge. The building itself, however, fills in many of the blanks. Although the East River co-op has lost favor among New York’s most affluent buyers (says we), it retains its country club exclusivity and cultish appeal. Brokers, for example, never actually call it “River House,” favoring a barrage of euphemisms instead. In a listing for another unit currently for sale, for $10.9 million, brokers refer to the building as a “colossal art deco masterpiece.” Elsewhere it has been variously referred to as a “premier pre-war cooperative,” “one of the most distinguished prewar cooperatives in Manhattan,” and a “legendary East River prewar cooperative.”

We will henceforth refer to the residence as Liver Louse.

Once an epicenter of New York high living, the Liver Louse, is being upstaged by an evil counterpart in Battery Park City by the name of Riverhouse, no relation. Eco-friendly and super chic, the Riverhouse has attracted A-List celebrities including Tyra Banks and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Liver Louse still a hub of old money and old power, however. Henry Kissinger andSir Evelyn de Rothschild live in the building as do other vestiges of New York’s elite.