A New Chapter: Late Author Joan Didion’s NYC Apartment Is Listed for $7.5M
Realtor.com / Getty Images
The New York City apartment, where “new journalist” Joan Didion lived and wrote, is on the market for the first time since her 2021 death. It is available for $7.5 million.
The author had lived in the Upper East Side home since the late 1980s with her husband, late writer John Gregory Dunne.
The spacious Manhattan unit has eleven rooms, including four bedrooms, four full bathrooms, and a powder room.
Building residents enjoy an array of amenities, including 24-hour door attendants, hall attendants, a resident manager, bike storage, and a gym—all for an $8,000 monthly maintenance charge.
Real Estate Production Network for Sotheby’s International Realty
Real Estate Production Network for Sotheby’s International Realty
Real Estate Production Network for Sotheby’s International Realty
Didion and Dunne reportedly purchased the place in 1988.
The limestone building, which dates back to 1928, is close to Central Park and has views of the spire at nearby St. James Church.
The listing notes that the layout is spacious and versatile and comes with original details, such as herringbone floors and hexagonal tiles.
Real Estate Production Network for Sotheby’s International Realty
Real Estate Production Network for Sotheby’s International Realty
Real Estate Production Network for Sotheby’s International Realty
Real Estate Production Network for Sotheby’s International Realty
Fit for an author
A semiprivate elevator opens to an entrance hall, which leads to a living room with a wood-burning fireplace.
The kitchen has a south-facing window, a large pantry, and an adjoining room with an en suite bath and a laundry room.
For privacy, the bedrooms are situated down a long hall, with the primary bedroom located in the corner. This room has an en suite bath, large closets, and city views.
Two other bedrooms share a bathroom, while another has an en suite bath.
And naturally, for the home of two writers, there are built-in bookshelves everywhere.
Real Estate Production Network for Sotheby’s International Realty
Real Estate Production Network for Sotheby’s International Realty
A storied career
Didion died in December 2021, from complications of Parkinson’s disease, at the age of 87.
The California native’s writing career began in the 1950s. She often wrote about the counterculture of the 1960s and ventured into political writing during the 1980s and 1990s.
Didion and Dunne wrote more than 20 screenplays together, including the 1976 film “A Star is Born.”
Dunne died in 2003. Their only child, daughter Quintana Roo Dunne, passed away in 2005.
Didion won the National Book Award for her memoir, “The Year of Magical Thinking”—an account of the months following her husband’s sudden death and daughter’s severe illness.
An estate auction of her personal belongings in late 2022 reportedly raised nearly $2 million.
Didion’s home is listed by Serena Boardman, of Sotheby’s International Realty–East Side Manhattan Brokerage.
The post A New Chapter: Late Author Joan Didion’s NYC Apartment Is Listed for $7.5M appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.