Now, it's still a popular space for working artists, but they had better be amazingly successful working artists if they hope to buy a studio/living space in the neighborhood. The carriage house and studio of fine art and fashion photographer Lillian Bass, who died last February at age 94, has sold in less than a month for its full $14.9 million asking price.

It's a pity that the buyers of 117 East 83rd Street, developer David Edelstein and wife Sarah, won't be carrying on the artistic traditions of the charming carriage house, which has served as a studio for Bassman and her late documentary photographer husband Paul Himmel, since 1959. Painter Helen Frankenthaler also worked there for 15 years.

But, hey, Richard Prince, who is building a mini artistic empire on East 78th Street, can only buy so many houses each year. And the space, located between Park and Lexington, is hardly an example of another starving artist's aerie sold to a wealthy developer. Bassman still used the 5,ooo square foot space as a studio until she died, but she experienced considerable commercial success in her lifetime, a success reflected in several beautifully renovated rooms.

"Carriage houses are wonderful spaces. Unlike townhouses, the architectural possibilities are almost unlimited," said Stribling's Kirk Henckels, who shared the listing with Douglas Elliman broker Michael Kafka.

The carriage house is 25-feet wide, with 13-feet windows and an open facade on the West Side, allowing for that rarity in townhouses: windows on the side. But the Edelsteins didn't quibble with the asking price: the property went into contract almost immediately after hitting the market in early December. (It also spent a week on the market in September before it was pulled temporarily.)

The price, Mr. Henckels noted, at around $3,000 per square foot, is basically unheard of for an unrenovated townhouse. The new owners, he said, were planning to convert it to a single family home.  By comparison, the Avedon townhouse on East 75th Street is only asking $1,474 per square foot (the total price tag is $12.5 million). And it's had two renovations in the last decade!

Will the Edelsteins renovate and move on, as they've done before—their last flip of a townhouse on 122 East 70th Street was so impressive it could put Olympic gymnast Gabby Douglas to shame. After buying the townhouse for $12 million in 2010 (to the horror of the neighbors), they sold it for $21.45 million. Or could they finally be playing for keeps?

kvelsey@observer.com

122 East 70th Street: one of the last deals of 2012.

It's a happy New Year for developer David Edelstein and wife Sarah. The couple made a mint on the sale of their townhouse at 122 East 70th Street, nearly doubling their money in just two short years.

The Edelsteins, whose bargain basement buy of the house for $12 million in 2010 shocked the other residents on what some call the loveliest block in all of New York, have sold the five-story manse for $21.45 million, The New York Times reports. Prudential Douglas Elliman brokers Michael Kafka and Theresa Thompson deserve a hand.

Apparently, the 2010 sale did not, as the neighbors worried, lower real estate values. Someone, buying under the guise of an LLC, was willing to give the Edelsteins with a $9.45 million profit. The sale price is close to the $20.2 million that the previous owners had been trying to get a few years back, before they dropped the ask to absurdly low $14.9 million and agreed to take the Edelsteins' low ball offer.

But what a difference two years can make, especially when they span the depths of a recession to what may well be the heights of the trophy market. What else could account for the huge price increase? (It also helps that the Edelsteins got a ridiculously good deal when they bought the house.)

The Edelsteins do not appear to have done any significant work on the home since buying it. It does sound lovely, with four terraces and six fireplaces if the buyers feel like burning any more money.

It was a good year for the most beautiful block in all of New York, with two sales over $20 million. The copper-clad townhouse just down the street at 116 East 70th sold for $22.39 million. Could 120 East 70th be next? Maybe if it takes a hint from the sale next door and drops its asking price down to $25 million.

kvelsey@observer.com

David and Sarah Edelstein (alas, this is not film critic David Edelstein, although excuse us for a moment while we fantasize about journalists living in $20 million townhouses) are asking a rather brazen $24.2 million for their elevatored townhouse, which they bought for just $12 million in 2010.Where do they think they live? 15 CPW?

Who knows? With the way properties have been selling lately, the Edelsteins may just get it. Still, it's unclear what exactly justifies the big price jump. Maybe they Edelsteins are just trying to keep the neighbors happy? After all, the former owners outraged the block's snooty denizens in 2010 when they dropped the $20 million ask to $14.9 million before finally handing it off to the Edelsteins for a mere $12 million.

Apparently, the sale did nothing to drive down values in the area. And we can almost hear the neighbors collective sigh of relief at this audacious ask. The townhouse is, after all, on a block that is often considered the best in New York, as the Prudential Douglas Elliman listing, held by brokers Michael Kafka and Theresa Thompson boasts. The original builders of the block decided that all development on the north side would be set back 10 feet, leaving the extra space "forever free and unoccupied." And how could you let a house with that kind of advantage go for under $20 million? Especially one "wired for security and entertainment" as this one is? (As much as that sounds like a description from a dystopic future).

The buyer, if one ever emerges willing to pay $24 million, will have the privilege of enjoying six wood-burning fireplaces and a roof deck with a kitchenette. Drifting through the rooms of "gracious proportions," the buyer can gaze out one of the many windows, or lounge on one of the four terraces, trying to forget that the home might have been had for half the price just two years ago.

kvelsey@observer.com