A Greek Revival townhouse in Chelsea broke a neighborhood record when it sold for $22.5 million in 2021. The stylishly updated home looks to set a new highwater mark after being listed for $25 million this month.
In 2021, the home sold to a trust managed by computer scientist and crowdsourcing pioneer Luis von Ahn, who invented reCAPTCHA and co-founded the language learning app Duolingo. Andre Tchelistcheff Architects and the AD100-honored interior design firm Gachot Studios remodeled the 7,000-square-foot home prior to van Ahn’s purchase, modernizing the historic brownstone.
“It’s the house that most people spend three to four years of their life designing with an architect, except this one is already complete and move-in ready,” Nadine Adamson of Brown Harris Stevens told Observer. Adamson is part of the three-person team representing the home. “The scale of the rooms, the high-end finishes, the four private outdoor spaces, the elevator, everything is flawless.”
The home has a litany of eye-catching features, like its expansive skylight atop a winding staircase that connects its five floors. The red-brick townhouse is 25 feet wide but contains five bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as three half baths and four separate outdoor spaces.
The gorgeously appointed townhouse was built in 1836, sitting alongside other historic homes on West 20th St. The facade was meticulously conserved when the interior was modernized in 2020. The updates featured a new layout and fresh mechanical systems such as hydronic radiant floor heat and automated shades.
The kitchen, which sits at garden level, features Imperial Danby marble and Absolute Black granite counters. It also boasts designer touches from Gachot, including a Lacanche Savigny range, Miele, Sub-Zero appliances, and custom Valli & Valli hardware. The kitchen, which also contains a large pantry, is attached to a family room with a gas fireplace that opens onto a landscaped garden with high walls, slate pavers, and ample gathering space.
One floor up, the parlor level features the customary high ceilings of a brownstone as well as 11-foot-high floor-to-ceiling windows above Chevron-patterned white oak floors. The parlor level’s living room contains a wood-burning fireplace and triple French doors that open onto a balcony, which can also be reached from the garden via a spiral staircase. In addition to an in-home elevator, this floor has an electronic dumb waiter connecting the dining rooms to the kitchen below.
Above the parlor, the first floor holds three bedrooms, each of which has an en-suite bathroom with marble tiles and custom vanities by Gachot. This level also has a media room with a pair of pocket doors and an office.
The home’s top floor is dominated by the primary bedroom suite, which has its own foyer, a mahogany wet bar with a refrigerator, and a marble bath with a freestanding Duravit Luv tub and steam shower in the en-suite bathroom. At $25 million, even the rooms have rooms. The sprawling bedroom touts a pair of walk-ins, a dressing room, and a sitting room, which connects to a private terrace.
Additionally, residents can take in the skyline from the rooftop deck, where they get a keen view of St. Peter’s Church and Hudson Yards. The home is completed with more luxuries in the finished basement, including a screening room with a wet bar and a gym that has its own powder room.
The potentially record-setting townhouse hit the market on May 3.
