A landmarked Upper Manhattan townhouse with a secret speakeasy has hit the market for $3.45 million.
The historic home was once owned by the late Gerald Boyd, the first African-American managing editor of the New York Times, and Robin Stone, the founding editor of Essence.com, and the executive and deputy editor of Essence magazine.
The couple had bought the four-story townhouse, at 850 St. Nicholas Ave. in Hamilton Heights, for $1.77 million in 2006.
The area beneath the stairs was used as the speakeasy. There was a secret entrance from the parlor above that went down to the basement with a Bilco door in the floor, according to the broker, Suzanne Sunshine, of Brown Harris Stevens.
At 22½ feet wide, the home is 4,980 square feet in size. Built in 1894 by John C. Burne in a neo-Renaissance style, the four-bedroom, four-bath home — renovated in 2017 — features original details like wood carvings, crown moldings, pocket doors, hardwood floors, mantels, wainscoting and high ceilings.
Modern additions include a landscaped, irrigated roof terrace with panoramic views, radiant heating, indoor/outdoor entertainment spaces and an elevator to all four floors. The home opens to a parlor level with a foyer that leads to a living room with 12-foot ceilings and a woodburning fireplace, while a formal dining room connects to the chef’s kitchen.
The main bedroom suite, on the second floor, boasts a bay window and sitting area, plus a large walk-in closet and a spa-like bath. The third floor has two additional bedrooms and a bathroom, plus a laundry room and a skylight — while the garden level, opening to an outdoor patio, offers a media center, a game room, a billiards table and a wet bar.
There’s also a separate guest apartment with its own private street entrance.
The home is located in the famed Sugar Hill Historic District, which features handsome Victorian homes and rowhouses once populated by icons like sociologist/historian/activist W. E. B. Du Bois, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and poet Langston Hughes.