SoHo Building Where Heath Ledger Died Is Turned Into Condo

LIKE so many buildings in New York City, 419-421 Broome Street has lived many lives since it was built in 1873. One of those lives included the actor Heath Ledger, and the latest chapter involves a conversion into multimillion-dollar condominiums.

 

It was designed by the architect Griffith Thomas, whose prolific mid-19th-century work included the New York Life Insurance Building and the construction of a cavernous ballroom for Caroline Astor, the 19th-century socialite who was known, historically, as “the Mrs. Astor.”

 

Last May the Broome Street building, with rusticated arches, wide expanses of glass and cast-iron balustrades, was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission as part of the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District Extension.

 

Over the last century, the building has been home to, among other things: the estimate offices of the New York City Board of Education, which took over the space in 1897; a covered wire manufacturer; a typewriter company; a dust-removal company; and, of course, this being SoHo, an art gallery, the Leonard Gallery, from 1984 to 2003. It was then converted to a rental building, and in 2004, it was bought by an investor, Donald A. Burns.

 

Its first residential incarnation was as a loft rental, where Mr. Ledger paid about $25,000 a month for a 4,400-square-foot unit on the fourth floor. It was in his bedroom in that apartment that Mr. Ledger was found dead in January 2008 of an accidental overdose of prescription medication. The entrance to the building was soon shrouded in flowers, cards and other tributes to him.

 

Mr. Ledger was nominated for an Oscar for his role in the 2005 film “Brokeback Mountain.” And after ending his relationship with a co-star of the film, Michelle Williams, with whom he had a daughter, Matilda Rose, he moved to the building in SoHo from their home in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. (In 2009, family members accepted a posthumous Oscar on his behalf for his role as the Joker in “The Dark Knight.”)

 

Now the SoHo rental building has been renovated; two stories have been added and the building has been turned by Mr. Burns into the 419-421 Broome Street condominium, between Crosby and Lafayette Streets. The four full-floor apartments went on the market on Friday, listed by the Corcoran Group. They include a two-bedroom loft with 4,400 square feet of space on the second floor, with an asking price of $3.9 million; a three-bedroom loft on the third floor, with 4,400 square feet of space and an asking price of $5 million; and a triplex penthouse on the fifth through seventh floors with about 7,600 square feet and another 3,400 square feet of terraces and decks. The penthouse has an asking price of $20 million.

 

Mr. Ledger’s former apartment — identical to the three-bedroom on the third floor — is listed for $5 million, said Darren Kearns, a co-broker on the listings with his Corcoran colleague Jim Farah.

 

Please click here to read the article on nytimes.com

 

Copyright © 2010 The New York Times Company. Reprinted with Permission.  Photos should be credited as follows:  Yana Paskova/The New York Times.