German photographer Thomas Struth has sold his cushy two bedroom Upper East Side apartment for $2.2 million, the Observer reports, noting that that the stuffy neighborhood and staid decor aren’t exactly what one would predict for an artist. Perhaps this is why Struth and his wife, author Tara Bray Smith, decided to ditch their co-op at the Millan House for almost no profit.
Struth purchased the home at 115 East 67th Street in 2008 for $2.1 million, just slightly less than this year’s selling price. The lucky buyer is Ghislain De Kertanguy, son of textile magnate Loic De Kertanguy.
The Millan House, which requires potential residents to obtain approval from the co-op board before purchasing property, dates back to the 1930s, when it was built by John D. Rockefeller Jr. The apartment, #2A, features amenities like a wood-burning fireplace, ten-foot ceilings, and a shared formal back garden area.
“It is a classic full service, white glove building with one of the prettiest lobbies in all of New York City which is enhanced by an Italianate garden courtyard and an antique circular fountain,” reads a description on realtor Douglas Elliman’s website.
According to the realtor, the building allows both pied-a-terres and pets, which we assume makes it pretty lenient as co-ops go.
“That was a big deal for me, especially because it’s such a big thing with the board package and everything, the whole process,” Struth told the Observer of the decision to buy the apartment in 2008. Why exactly he decided to sell and where he and his wife—who divide their time between New York and Berlin—plan to relocate is unknown.
Struth will be featured in conversation this week at the Brooklyn Museum alongside Rosalind Fox Solomon and Frederic Brenner. The trio will discuss their participation in the museum’s upcoming exhibition “This Place,” which focuses on documentation of Israel and the West Bank.