Meryl Streep’s former Greenwich Village home is a reminder of how much history can sit behind the red-brick façades of New York’s residential streets.
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history → sit → streets
Built in 1845, the five-storey townhouse at 19 West 12th Street once belonged to the three-time Academy Award winner, who owned it for a decade before selling it in 2005.
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who → build → 2005
The property later changed hands twice before reaching the market with an asking price of $28.5 million in 2016, following a $6.5 million reduction.
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property → change → reduction
Spread across several levels, the house combines period architecture with a layout that includes six bedrooms, a rooftop garden and a substantial marble bathroom.
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that → Spread → bedrooms
Six fireplaces add another detail to its historic character.
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fireplaces → add → character
Inside Meryl Streep’s historic Greenwich Village townhouse with six fireplaces
The house stands on West 12th Street in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, an area known for its older townhouses and residential blocks.
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house → stand → townhouses
Dating from 1845, the building was designed in the Late Greek Revival style, a form of architecture associated with the period’s interest in classical proportions and restrained ornament.
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building → date → proportions
Its red-brick exterior and narrow street frontage distinguish it from the larger apartment buildings found elsewhere in Manhattan.
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exterior → distinguish → Manhattan
The property is 25 feet wide and extends across five storeys, with approximately 6,585 square feet of interior space, according to the estate details reported by Mansion Global in 2016.
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property → extend → 2016
That vertical arrangement gives the house a series of separate living areas rather than a single expansive floor plan.
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arrangement → give → areas
Its six fireplaces are among the features associated with its historic residential design, while later fittings and amenities accommodate contemporary use.
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fittings → associate → use
Meryl Streep’s former townhouse listed for $28.5 million
Streep purchased the townhouse in 1995 for $2.1 million.
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Streep → list → million
She retained ownership for ten years before selling it to Libet Johnson, an heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, for $9.1 million in 2005.
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She → retain → 2005
Johnson's ownership lasted only two years.
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ownership → last → ?
In 2007, she sold the house for $12.8 million, and Elisabeth de Kergorlay, a countess and entrepreneur, acquired it in 2008 for $13.5 million, as reported by The Mansion Global.
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Kergorlay → sell → Global
The succession of owners reflects the property's position in New York's high-end residential market.
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succession → reflect → market
By September 2016, the townhouse was being offered for $28.5 million, down from an earlier asking price of $35 million that February.
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townhouse → offer → million
The reduction brought the advertised price $6.5 million lower, although the listing price alone did not establish what a future buyer might pay.
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buyer → bring → what
Streep's connection to the house remained a central part of its appeal in property coverage.
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connection → remain → coverage
Her ownership, from 1995 to 2005, placed the residence among the private homes associated with one of Hollywood's most recognised actors.
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ownership → place → actors
The building itself, however, predates her career by well over a century.
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building → predate → century
The townhouse pairs a garden-facing terrace with six period fireplaces
The townhouse's interior was arranged to give different floors distinct purposes.
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interior → pair → purposes
The main entertaining rooms occupied the parlor level, where the living room and bar area sat alongside a formal dining room.
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room → occupy → room
From there, doors opened onto a terrace overlooking a garden, providing an outdoor space within the dense urban setting.
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doors → open → setting
At garden level, the house included a caretaker's apartment with its own kitchen, bathroom and bedroom.
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house → include → kitchen
Higher up, the third floor contained a bedroom with an en-suite bathroom, as well as a sitting area and study.
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floor → contain → bathroom
Two further bedrooms occupied the fourth floor, with a powder room in the hall.
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bedrooms → occupy → hall
This distribution allowed the property to accommodate household staff, private working space and guest or family bedrooms without concentrating everything on the principal living floor.
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property → allow → floor
Six fireplaces formed part of the home's collection of period features.
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fireplaces → form → features
In a building constructed in the mid-19th century, such details offer a sense of its original domestic character, even as the rooms have been adapted for later owners.
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rooms → construct → owners
The available property report identifies the fireplaces as a feature but does not provide a room-by-room breakdown of their locations.
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report → identify → locations
The townhouse combines an expansive marble bathroom with skyline views
The top floor was devoted to the principal bedroom suite, which included a particularly large bathroom finished in Italian Calacatta marble.
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which → combine → marble
Reported to measure about 450 square feet, the bathroom stretched across the width of the townhouse.
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bathroom → report → townhouse
Its fittings included a cast-iron bathtub, a separate freestanding shower and a fireplace, combining the scale of a luxury bathroom with the older building's traditional architectural details.
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fittings → include → details
Above the house, a rooftop garden offered views across the city skyline.
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garden → offer → skyline
The basement provided additional storage and laundry space, leaving the main floors available for living, entertaining and sleeping.
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basement → provide → living
Together with the garden-level apartment and terrace, these features gave the property several outdoor and service areas despite its relatively narrow frontage.
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features → give → frontage
The townhouse’s asking price fell to $28.5 million in 2016
The townhouse attracted renewed attention in 2016 when its asking price was reduced from $35 million to $28.5 million.
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price → fall → million
Mansion Global reported that an open house had been scheduled for 3 October that year, with the Corcoran Group handling the listing.
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Group → report → listing
The property had therefore moved well beyond the prices paid by its earlier owners, at least in terms of its advertised value.
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property → move → value
…and 2 more, not listed.
The Aporia
