45 East 68th Street

This grand neo-Federal townhome is perfectly located on one of the most beautiful tree-lined blocks, home to numerous impressive mansions, just a block from Central Park, at the heart of the Upper East Side Historic District. With a highly coveted 25 feet in width and five stories above the cellar, this townhouse offers a rare opportunity to create a single family home, restoring the grandeur and scale with which it was originally built. Currently configured as five floor-thru units, it will be delivered vacant and is also a great investment opportunity or could be appropriate for institutional, foundation or government use.

The house’s desirable width and its impressive depth (built with a partial extension almost full on the 100’ lot) both enable a buyer a multitude of options in laying out a grandly scaled home that can easily accommodate 5 or 6 bedrooms, all with baths en-suite; two floors dedicated to entertaining, including a huge eat-in chef’s kitchen with separate breakfast room; a luxuriously scaled, full floor master suite with two dressing rooms, a sitting room/study, and an enormous master bath. All of this could be crowned by a planted and furnished roof deck with spectacular city views. The house is approximately 13,000+/- square feet inclusive of the full height cellar. All ceilings were dropped 8-12+ inches for recessed lighting in the 1980s, and currently measure 9 ft. on the 1st floor, 12.5 ft. on the parlor floor, 10.5 ft. on the 3rd floor, and 10 ft. on the 4th and 5th floors.

Designed by the renowned C.P.H. Gilbert, architect of many of Fifth Avenue’s storied early 20th century mansions, the house’s handsome classical facade features: a rusticated stone base with Flemish bond brick with yellow headers at the upper floors; a heavy stone lintel on brackets over central entrance; a wrought-iron balcony across the second floor; and a modillioned Renaissance-style roof cornice.

45 East 68th Street was constructed in 1911-12 by Gilbert for Emily Brewster Frelinghuysen. The Frelinghuysen family were prominent and successful in business and politics, with an illustrious past extending to pre-Revolutionary War America. In 1953, the house was purchased by actors and journalists Richard Kollmar and Dorothy Kilgallen. They broadcast their popular 1950s "Dorothy and Dick” breakfast show on the radio from the fourth floor studio of the house. Kilgallen was most famous as the star of the iconic American television series "What's My Line?" This is truly an extraordinary opportunity to create a grandly proportioned home in a prime Upper East Side location. 45 East 68th Street is an exceptional townhouse offering – one not to be missed.