A pre-war NYC apartment with a huge bedroom, full-size dining room, and iconic history? It’s not too good to be true—the former home of Lena Horne could be yours if you have the money to spare. Situated on the fifth floor in a palazzo-style midrise building on the Upper East Side, this 2,100-square-foot apartment just hit the market for $2.195 million.
Originally built as a hotel in 1929, the structure was converted into a co-op in the early 80s, which is also when Horne returned to New York to star in her one-woman Broadway show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music. The legendary performer bought several adjacent units in the building, two of which were converted into her primary residence that is now being sold by her daughter and the unit’s most recent inhabitant, Gail Buckley.
The dwelling is technically a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit, but remains in the oversized one-bedroom format that Horne set up when she lived there. In its current configuration, the apartment boasts a sun-filled 31-foot-long living room with five south-facing windows, a full-sized formal dining room flanking the equally roomy eat-in kitchen, and a roughly 450-square-foot bedroom with multiple walk-in closets, a library-slash-office area, and an ensuite marble bathroom. Original details including hardwood oak flooring and exposed beam ceilings remain intact throughout the home.
Horne died in 2010 after a hugely influential career of singing, dancing, acting, and civil rights activism that spanned seven decades. Earlier this month, the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, which hosted The Lady and Her Music and currently hosts the Broadway musical Six, announced that it will be renamed after Horne. Horne will be the first Black woman to have a Broadway theater named after her.
Jonathan Schulz and Jason Miller of Corcoran hold the listing.
