If you’re harboring fantasies of living in a Gilded Age New York, here’s your chance: The James F.D. Lanier House, an opulent Beaux-Arts early 20th-century home, has hit the market for $33 million.
The home. located at 123 E. 35th St. in Murray Hill, between Park and Lexington avenues, last traded back in 1984 for $4.2 million, according to public records.
The 33-foot-wide brick and limestone mansion — the size of two brownstone rowhouses — is 66 feet tall and spans a palatial 11,638 square feet over eight levels. It’s one of the largest single-family homes in New York.
What else would be more fitting for James and Harriet Lanier, the prominent Gilded Era socialites who commissioned the property to be built? James, whose full name was James Franklin Doughty Lanier II, was a banker and equestrian that hailed from blue blood. His grandfather James Franklin Doughty Lanier co-founded Winslow, Lanier & Co., a prominent private investment firm.
The Laniers hired the acclaimed architectural firm Hoppin & Koen to design their dream home. Their prolific projects include Springwood in Hyde Park, New York, where President Franklin Delano Roosevelt worked and lived.
Designated by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission as a fine example of Parisian Beaux-Arts style, their masterpiece for the Laniers is also listed in the National Register of Historic Palaces. It’s full of rich architectural details, including carved stonework, a copper roof, fluted Ionic pilasters and dentil and modillion cornices.
The façade is striking with its latticed wrought-iron balustrades, porch with end posts that are topped with stone urns, iron and gold leaf gate and solid tiger oak double doors at the arched entrance.
Inside, the private spaces are just one indicator of its scale: The house has nine bedrooms, five of which are suites, seven full and three half baths and extra bedrooms and baths for staff. The arched reception hall has a rose medallion ceiling while the gallery is decorated with a crystal chandelier and marble fountain that’s carved into a wall. With three skylights, natural light is in no short supply.
Emblematic of the wealthy during the Gilded Era, entertaining rooms abound. The sophisticated club room has a marble-topped bar and is laden with gold leaf details while the dining room seats 16 and is framed by a statement-making rock-crystal chandelier. There’s also a sprawling living room with 12-foot ceilings and a library with a stone-carved fireplace and gold detailing.
A mahogany staircase and wood-paneled elevator connect all the floors, and the mansion’s eye-candy amenities include a gym with a sauna, plunge pool and massage room, a wine cellar and a storybook courtyard garden with a stone fountain and ivy trellises.
The Laniers may have been the home’s first occupants when it was completed almost 120 years ago, but it’s unclear who the current owner is currently. The 1984 deed shows a transfer from Unicorp American, a bank, which then sold the property to Peori Corporation N.V., an entity based in Curaçao.
The listing is exclusive to Christie’s International Real Estate.