452 Greenwich Street

HISTORY AND BUILDER
Positioned on a 25' x 60' lot on the southwest corner of Desbrosses and Greenwich Street, 452 Greenwich (aka 21 Desbrosses Street) was originally built in 1819 as a two and a half story building by Alexander Thompson, occupied by Scottish settler Archibald Sommerville. The house was raised to a four-story residence in 1852 by the building's second owner, William B. Howenstine, in a Federal style with numerous brownstone additions. Later in 1903, the third owner, New York County Sherriff William F. Grell, would add a restaurant to the ground floor and use the upper levels as a residence.

Nearly 200 years later, this residence has been transformed into a state-of-the-art single-family home made unique by several uncommon characteristics, most notably a 25 foot width with a corner position facing north, a single-car garage with legal curb cut, and an extraordinary rooftop garden providing an urban oasis with open north Tribeca views.

THE RESIDENCE
From the main entry on Desbrosses Street, a grand front hall of porcelain tile sets the tone of elegance and craftsmanship for this expertly renovated single-family residence. To the east, a large billiard room with windows facing east and north, high ceilings, and a full bath making this a possible guest bedroom or library. To the west, a windowed office with storage space could be easily converted to a mud room for bikes and all-season gear. The truly invaluable single-car garage, large enough to accommodate a variety of vehicles, has been outfitted with vast amounts of custom storage space. Ascend to the parlor floor via the main stair or the elevator.

With brilliant oak flooring in the living and dining room and marble flooring in the chef's kitchen, this open entertaining floor is flooded with light front the 60-foot row of north windows and 25-foot row of east windows. With a large dining room in the center, the front living room includes a wood-burning fireplace while the rear kitchen includes an eat-in area, large center island, and a powder room.

The third floor is configured as three bedrooms and two full baths. The large east bedroom includes a wood-burning fireplace and closet, sharing a full bath with the center bedroom positioned in the middle of the third floor. The western bedroom includes a walk-in closet and en-suite bath.

The fourth floor features two bedrooms including the lavish master suite with four north-facing windows including a windowed walk-in closet as well as a grand master bath with separate tub and shower and twin sinks. A wood-burning fireplace is positioned opposite the bed. Facing east and north, the fifth bedroom includes a full bath, closet, and while presently configured as a screening room fully equipped with Crestron-controlled surround sound, it could be easily converted to a bedroom or integrated into the master suite.

Measuring approximately 1,200sf, the teak rooftop garden is a true urban oasis atop this townhouse, offering extraordinary natural light and open city views.

Other upgrades and features include: repointed facade, replaced sidewalks and newly planted trees, installation of water ejector system tied to three sum-pump system to prevent flooding, Culligan water filtration system both in the basement and kitchen, state-of-the-art security system, cedar wine room with 2,500 bottle capacity, basement laundry room, and 2012 replacement of hot water heater and boiler.