A 19th-century Gramercy Park townhouse once owned by the actress Uma Thurman has hit the market for $11.5 million.
The historic four-story home, built in 1843 at 143 E. 19th St., is currently vacant, sources told Gimme Shelter — though the marketing images come well-decorated. The sellers are Helene Rottblatt and Alan Boss, who reportedly ruled Chelsea flea markets with an “iron fist” for more than four decades, and are currently in the midst of a divorce that has raged on for years.
From 1976 to 2019, the former couple ran fleas popular with celebrities like Andy Warhol, along with regular New Yorkers and tourists on the hunt for discarded treasures, antiques and curiosities.
Boss is also the founder of the Metropolitan Pavilion, the exhibition venue in Chelsea — which most recently played host to the popular Manhattan Vintage show last weekend — on 18th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues.
Crain’s, which first reported the listing, also noted that a lender, TD Bank, sued Boss and Rottblatt last year to recover money owed on a $3.2 million mortgage. The debt on the property is currently around $3.9 million, with Rottblatt alleging that her signature on the mortgage documents is forged — an allegation that Boss denied, according to reports.
Boss and Rottblatt bought the home from Thurman for around $5 million in 2005, who owned it for around a year. Thurman, in turn, had purchased the townhouse from restaurateur Lynn Wagenknecht, who co-founded The Odeon in Tribeca with her then-husband, Balthazar restaurateur Keith McNally and his brother Brian. Wagenknecht purchased the townhouse in 1994, the year she and McNally divorced.
Selling the house, Boss told Gimme Shelter, “is a way out.”
“We are going through a protracted divorce … It has been going on before COVID and everything was slow,” he said. “My wife had not agreed to sell the house until now because we need to. And I’m too old to live there with all the stairs,” he said, adding he turns 86 on Sunday. Rottblatt is 81. Boss also confirmed there was debt on the townhouse from the mortgage and interest, but could not confirm the exact amount.
At 20 feet wide, the six-bedroom, 6.5-bath home is 4,160 square feet. It’s in the heart of the Gramercy Park Historic District, on a street known as “block beautiful” as an ode to its townhouses. “The townhouse is flooded with light because it is surrounded by low rises,” said a source familiar with the home.
The red brick residence is anchored by a parlor-level chef’s kitchen that opens to a terrace and a garden. This floor also boasts a living and dining room.
The dwelling was restored and renovated around 15 years ago. Original details include four woodburning fireplaces with marble mantels. There are also wide-plank pine floors, pocket shutters, original moldings and modern upgrades including “whole-house” radiant heat.
The primary bedroom takes up an entire floor and is sun-lit from tall front and rear windows. The suite includes a home office or den. The top floor features an additional three bedrooms, while the lower floor features a guest bedroom and a rec room.
Despite the grandeur, Thurman, who Boss knows, never lived in the townhouse.
“It would have been impossible,” Boss said, adding that his favorite attribute of the dwelling is the natural light that flows in. “Too many paparazzi.”
At the time Thurman bought the home, Boss said, she was getting divorced from Ethan Hawke and they were living around the corner at 1 Lexington Ave.
“She bought the house just in case she’d lose the condo, but I couldn’t see her living there,” he said, adding that her father Robert Thurman once held events for Tibet House at the Metropolitan Pavilion.
For her part, Rottblatt enjoyed the atmosphere, telling Gimme “It’s a beautiful block, a nice, peaceful neighborhood. There’s just a beautiful vibe when you come in and it gets light from both sides.”
The listing brokers are Matthew Lesser and Tori Landon, of Leslie Garfield.
