Steve Miller toured this ‘haunted’ $13M UWS pad

Real Estate

Legendary rocker Steve Miller toured an extravagant Gilded Age mansion on the Upper West Side, decorated with gargoyles and cherubs on its landmarked facade, sources tell Gimme Shelter exclusively.

The 37½-foot-wide mansion at 3 Riverside Drive is currently on the market for $12.99 million — an extreme slash from its original $40 million ask in 2012.

Ultimately, after several tours, Miller and his spouse, Janice Ginsburg Miller, decided the 18,000-square-mansion was “too big” a project for them — and passed.

The home features six stories above ground and three below, along with four terraces, Corinthian columns, a copper-trimmed roof, a gabled dormer, bay windows, nine gaslit fireplaces — and views of Riverside Park and the Hudson River.

So how come the limestone lair, known as the Kleeberg Residence, can’t sell? The answer may lie in its haunted past. The home’s first owner, Maria Kleeberg, a 48-year-old socialite, offed herself one night in 1903 while hosting a dinner party, according to a report. No one called an ambulance right away because, in true “Bonfire of the Vanities”-style, they didn’t want to cause a scene.


Steve Miller on stage in San Diego.
Classic rocker Steve Miller.
Getty Images

Exterior of 3 Riverside Drive.
The home boasts splendid views of the Upper West Side.
Tim Waltman

Interior of a living area in 3 Riverside Drive.
Ceilings range from 10 to 24 feet in height.
Tim Waltman

Since then, the home’s eclectic owners have included a sleep doctor, mining heir William Guggenheim, who rented out rooms to showgirls, and Regina Kislin, the daughter of Sam Kislin, a Ukrainian-born metals trader with business ties to the late Tamir Sapir, Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani and — according to the FBI — Russian organized crime.

The current owners bought the house at auction for $15.8 million in 2017.

The current owners gutted the interior. It’s now a blank shell with no walls or plumbing, let alone finishes, sources say.  


Interior of a dining room at 3 Riverside Drive.
A dining area inside the Riverside Drive home.
Tim Waltman

Aerial of 3 Riverside Drive.
An aerial rendering of the 37½-foot-wide mansion.
Tim Waltman

Interior of 3 Riverside Drive.
Another rendering of the layout.
Tim Waltman

The nine-story French Revival Renaissance home, designed by Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert and completed in 1898, now features ceiling heights ranging from 10 feet high to 24 feet high. “It’s an amazing house,” a source said. “But somebody needs to do the work and right now no one wants to.” The sellers made the decision to start over and then stopped, the source said. 

The home does come with approved plans for nine bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and three floors of cellar-level amenities, all by Italian home and yacht architect Achille Salvagni. Details include a half-Olympic-sized marble pool, a gym with a steam and sauna, a half-sized basketball court, a game room, a stadium-style movie theater, a roof terrace, radiant heating, an onyx-walled hot tub with a wet bar and, naturally, bulletproof windows. 

The co-listing brokers are Ian Slater and Eduardo Martinez, of Compass, and Andrew Azoulay of Bespoke.

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