It’s not the kind of place you would imagine a five-time Tony Award winning actress and singer bunking down, but we suppose that stars of the stage and screen sometimes grow tired of all the glitz and glamor that comes with the lifestyle. At least, we’re not sure why else Audra Mcdonald would have bought a semi-attached two-family home in Inwood.
The feted performer has inked her name on the deed of a modest, 2,000-square-foot brick house fronted by what appears to be a vinyl-clad porch in the upper Manhattan neighborhood.
“This lovely and spacious 2-family home is comfortably situated in the desirable section of… Inwood Manhattan,” boasts the listing, held by Rebecca Pelletier of New Heights Realty, adding that home is legally a two-family, with a finished basement and attic. Ms. McDonald confirmed the buy through a spokesperson, but did not wish to comment on the purchase.
Property records show that Ms. McDonald paid $1.22 million for the undistinguished spread, which is, we guess, a little more than a song, buying it from Ana Casado Vinardell, who wanted $1.3 million. But while the price is in line, or not so out of line, with what a songstress of Ms. McDonald’s stature could be expected to spend, what’s confounding is why she selected an unassuming Inwood spread rather than a Tribeca loft or Lincoln Square condo—especially considering how much time she must spend in the Theater District, not to mention the types of residences generally favored by Broadway royalty (ahem, Hal Price’s extravagant Upper East Side manse). Moreover, Ms. McDonald’s primary residence is, or at least, was in Croton-on-Hudson.
The home is decidedly not your typical pied-a-terre. Perhaps Ms. McDonald intends to use it as a perch for a family member—the Broadway star version of a mother-in-law apartment?
In any event, the house does boast a few celebrity-worth amenities, among them a spa jacuzzi tub, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, plus a two-car garage, so it’s not totally out of tune with the performer.
