A pink Upper East Side townhouse which once belonged to Al Hirschfeld, a caricaturist best known for his black and white portraits of celebrities and Broadway stars, has hit the market once again for a cool $9.2 million. (See Holly Golightly’s Chic Brownstone On the Market for $8 Million).
The cotton candy-colored building situated at 95th street between Park and Lexington Avenue boasts four bedrooms, a roof deck, a terrace, and a back garden. It was snatched up by Paul and Denise Lachman after Hirschfeld’s death in 2003; the couple paid $5.3 million.
After a few upgrades and renovations, still lingering after 50 years is an original eight-foot-tall mural by the cartoonist, an image that depicts a rowdy bar crowd scene including caricatures of Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Louis Armstrong, and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, according to Curbed. Not only will potential buyers get a sprawling new townhouse, but a piece of art history as well.
And what a coincidence, the house has hit the market at just the right time: the cartoonist will have a retrospective at New York Historical Society this spring. “The Hischfeld Century: The Art of Hirschfeld,” opening May 22, will include over 100 etchings by the artist.