Just west of Times Square, behind a gated passageway and out of public view, a little-known piece of New York history has come up for sale. Tucked inside Clinton Court off West 46th Street, the three-bedroom, three-bathroom duplex occupies the top two floors of a 19th-century structure with serious character and an impressive film résumé.
Asking $3.75 million and listed with Paul Devlin and Lisa Lippman of Brown Harris Stevens, the cooperative unit has long operated in a kind of real estate stealth mode. While the home has been featured in Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway, Deconstructing Harry, Law & Order, and Blue Bloods, it and Clinton Court itself remain largely unknown to the public, even neighborhood residents, as it’s secretly squirreled down a former horse passageway within a mid-block courtyard that’s all but unknown and rarely accessible to outsiders.
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Granite steps lead from the courtyard to a front porch and to the rooftop terrace.
Brown Harris Stevens
Currently owned by a commercial real estate broker and a life science economic development executive who are looking to do something few Manhattanites do—downsize—the one-of-a-kind abode combines historic detail with residential practicality. Originally built in the 1850s to stable horses and house milk carts, the freestanding building now offers vintage features that are increasingly difficult to find in Manhattan: granite stairs, stained glass, original wood floors, wood-burning fireplaces, and, topping it off, a roof terrace.
An exterior staircase and covered porch lead to the front door. To one side is a living room with a brick fireplace, a dining area, and a kitchen with tomato-red cabinetry and a pass-through to the dining room fitted with a stained-glass insert. Elsewhere on the main floor, a former studio apartment has been reconfigured as an office and guest suite. Upstairs, the primary bedroom has a second wood-burning fireplace and an adjacent bathroom with a soaking tub next to a window. A second bedroom with corner windows and a third bathroom complete the upper floor.
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The spacious living room features high ceilings, a fireplace, and exposed brick.
Brown Harris Stevens
The home has windows on all four sides, a rarity in Manhattan that lends it the feeling of a detached house right in the middle of the city. One of just two units in the building, cooperative fees run roughly $4,000 per month.
Once owned by the Menconi family—architectural sculptors best known for their work at the New York Public Library—the property has long drawn interest from artists, actors, and creatives, including actress Elizabeth Ashley and playwright Neil Simon. And while the building is known by historians and cineastes for its film connections and architectural quirks, its appeal to a New Yorker is more straightforward: it’s a rare freestanding structure with light, privacy, and history in a neighborhood where those qualities rarely intersect.
Click here to see more photos of the hidden Manhattan gem.
Brown Harris Stevens
Authors
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Abby Montanez