Goldman Sachs' Executive Buys Turkish Tobacco Baron's Mansion

The history of the Upper West Side's 12,000-square-foot Schinasi Mansion is equal parts illustrious and disappointing. Illustrious: Carnegie Hall architect William Tuthill designed the 1909 palace for a "Turkish tobacco baron," there are 3,400 square feet of outdoor space and a secret tunnel in the basement, and the property was a set for a Woody Allen film, Bullets Over Broadway. Disappointing: after asking a high of $31 million in 2006, the property has now sold for $14 million, according to the Journal. The last asking price was below that, at $13.5 million, (and was apparently one of several all-cash offers) but the PriceChopper Hall of Fame will still be inducting this property.

Speaking of dilapidated Upper West Side houses, it was a long and not particularly graceful fall from the top for the 12,000-square-foot Schinasi Mansion, which was listed for $31 million in 2006 and, after seven years of price chopping, is finally in contract. Although the final price is unknown, the white marble French Renaissance megamansion, which was used as a set for Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway as well as some very classy pizza parties, was most recently asking $13.5 million after its annual price reduction. As the lack of interior photos indicates, the problem here was the extensive interior renovations the new owner of the 12BR/11BA home will have to undertake.



The broker told the Observer, "The woodwork was distorted, the ceilings were beautiful but crumbling, the exterior was in bad shape. I guess it's been habitable all these years, but it needs a lot of work." The current owner, Beverly Smit, bought the mansion with her late husband, Columbia Law professor Hans Smit, in 1979 for $325,000, but they did not use it as their primary residence. [Curbed NY]