Elliott's $11.5 Million Fixer-Upper

When I wrote about Elliott Erwitt's house for sale in the Hamptons this past week, someone said it would be a long commute to the City. Not really—because it's a trip you make only once a week, or less. Elliott's real commute was eight stories. And apparently he enjoyed the trip. His New York City apartment and studio are for sale as well. The three-bedroom apartment (with two rooms for staff) was "a stretch" when he purchased it for $75,000 in the 1960s; it's listed for $11.5 million now, and the agent is a bit sniffy about it, saying it's only in "estate condition," meaning, it hasn't been fixed up in a while and needs a little work. In addition to the purchase price, the condo fees etc. amount to another $11,428 per month. That all seems like a lot of money for a fixer-upper!

Eight floors down is his studio, which is also for sale. If you can get to the article in The World's Best Photography Magazine, there's a lovely shot of Elliott working in his studio. He apparently took it of himself, as it's credited to him. As someone who's always loved pictures of photographers—that's what I would have collected if I could have collected anything—I love that shot!

Mike

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[Speed]

Let us not forget Jay Maisel ...

JAY MYSELF documents the monumental move of renowned photographer and artist, Jay Maisel, who, in February 2015 after forty-eight years, begrudgingly sold his home—the 36,000 square-foot, 100-year-old landmark building in Manhattan known simply as “The Bank.”

https://jaymyself.oscilloscope.net/#press

Oh ... to be young and wealthy ... or maybe just wealthy.

[Dave Richardson]

Reader View in Safari will let you see the article without logging in or opening an account.

[Robert]

I am surprised he earned enough to comfortably pay the $20,000 per month maintenance fees for the apartment and studio. That’s without the costs for the house in the Hamptons. I’m staggered that the charges are that high for two apartments. Is that normal?

[Kenneth Tanaka]

Having seen Erwitt's NY co-op I knew that it would certainly fetch such a remarkable price after his death. It's entirely possible that it could end up selling much closer to $15-18 mil, I believe. I had no idea he paid only $70k for it in the 1960's!

I've been very saddened by Erwitt's death...but very happy by the enormous body of remarkable, and often fanciful, work he's left behind. We should all live so productively.

----

You enjoy photos of photographers photgraphing? Me, too! Did you know there's an Instagrammer that posts nothing but this stuff? "Photographers photographed". Here's a recent shot of Erwitt from 1950---it looks like it was taken last week!

[For years I've called him "the greatest living photographer." Can't any more. You were lucky to know him Ken. --Mike]

[B.J.Scharp]

Hey Mike, as you probably know, the NYT is paywalled, while I'm assuming you are subscriber.

However, they have a system where, as a subscriber, you can share up to 10 articles a month to non-subscribers.

Below the article is a share button, which generates a custom link that allows people to read that specific article for free.

This might be an idea when you want to share something from the NYT or other papers you're subscribed to that offer this service. For instance, I know that the Washington Post has the same.

[John C]

If you like photographs of photographers then you might enjoy this:

https://www.instagram.com/photographersphotographed/

[Kirk]

Hmmm. The studio is only $2.3 million. Depending on the size that might be a bargain for NYC. Haven't checked on the co-op dues yet....

[Peter Barnes]

Thanks for the NYT link Mike. Reading it I discovered that Elliot's daughter Jennifer is married to Rick Smolan. (insert 'small world' cliche) I vicariously met Rick in Robyn Davidson's excellent book Tracks, about her solo camel trek from Central Australia to the west edge of the continent in the 1970's. Davidson reluctantly accepted a visit during the trek from a National Geographic photographer, a condition of much needed funding from NatGeo. Rick Smolan was the photographer.

By the time he appears in the book I had, with the aid of his photos, developed a big, remote, crush on Robyn. So while I was grateful for the excellent photographs, when she revealed in the book that they became lovers in the middle of desert, there was a certain resentment. That somehow morphed into an ambition to become a photo-journalist, which led to enrolment in an art school photography course, which didn't lead to photo-journalism, but did lead to professional photography some decades later.

So thanks Rick.