Please bore someone else with your questions
The hallway, with its pretty parquetry flooring, will turn the heads of most movie buffs.
For those unfamiliar with the reality of what goes into producing glossy print magazines, the industry can appear from the outside to be all glitz and glamour. At least that’s what Hollywood would have you believe. And perhaps, Miranda Priestly (played by Meryl Streep, of course), the fictitious fashion editor of Runway magazine in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada, is the most glamorous imagining of them all.
If not for the countless designer bags and coats she cast across Andy’s desk each morning, then absolutely for her six-storey townhouse on New York City’s Upper East Side. In reality, the home was owned by hedge-fund mogul Craig Effron and his wife Caryn, who bought it two decades back for roughly $13.6 million (USD $8.8 million).
This year, however, they listed the property with a price tag north of $46 million (US $27,500,000), and it has reportedly just sold to a yet-to-be-identified buyer for US $26,500,000, just a million shy of what they were asking for.
Originally built in 1907 in a Neo-Italian Renaissance style, the townhouse occupies over 1000 sqm of New York real estate, at 129 East 73rd Street. The retained facade features limestone, marble and two central doors framed in an ornate guilloché (a highly-decorative metalwork technique). Throughout the interiors, which have been respectfully retained yet updated, there are marble fireplaces, French doors, a Murano chandelier, gingham-patterned marble flooring, and a den wrapped in figured Anigre wood panelling.
The blue-carpeted spiral staircase has made numerous cinematic cameos in its time.
Lights from the 1930s hang from decorative pressed tin ceilings over the renovated kitchen’s Carrara marble benchtops, while a stately living room nearby is flanked with floor-to-ceiling neoclassical-style bookshelves. A feature that sets this stunning home apart is the numerous outdoor spaces dotted throughout, including Juliet balconies and a top-floor terrace decked out with a jacuzzi; the perfect complement to the custom-built basketball court on the same level.
While not usually the most memorable aspect of a home, particularly one of this calibre, the sweeping spiral staircase may catch the eye of any eager film buff – Serena van der Woodsen descended it to marry Dan Humphrey in the season finale of Gossip Girl, and more recently it featured in season two of Sex and The City spin-off, And Just Like That where an event was held for, believe it or not, another fictional magazine editor.
Stream The Devil Wears Prada now on Disney+ with a mth-to-mth no lock-in contract. Subscribe here.
See inside Miranda Priestly’s New York City Townhouse
1/9
The ornate façade and numerous cinematic cameos make this townhouse one of New York's most well-known addresses.
2/9
The double-door street entrances leads into a formal gallery with a chandelier and marble fireplace.
3/9
Blue runs as a aesthetic motif throughout the home, in paint colours, carpeting choices, tiles and more.
4/9
While the heritage features of the townhouse nod to a time gone by, the curation of modern art hung throughout the home certainly brings it into the present.
5/9
The 12 foot-high neoclassical bookshelving and trio of French doors bring a sense of grandeur to the living room.
6/9
Pressed tin ceilings, pretty blue lights from the 1930s and gingham-patterned marble flooring are all features of the eat-in kitchen.
7/9
The eat-in kitchen (and yes, there is another kitchen elsewhere in the home) features Carrara marble and stainless steel benchtops.
8/9
A five-foot tall oculus window mirrors the curve of the tub in one of the bathrooms.
9/9
The top floor features a custom-built basketball court soaked in sunlight thanks to a glass ceiling.
Photography by Krisztina Crane at Evan Joseph Studi
EXPERT PROJECTS
Create the home of your dreams with Shop Your Home and Garden
SHOP NOW
