The billionaire, art-collecting entrepreneur/publisher Peter Brant and supermodel Stephanie Seymour have bought a pair of side-by-side townhouses on the Upper East Side for $19.99 million, according to property records.
The historic, landmarked homes — at 67 and 69 E. 93rd St. in Carnegie Hill — were on the market for the first time in decades, asking $25 million.
They come with striking details like an original Otis elevator, a walk-in silver safe and hidden doors. The majestic mansions were built in 1929 and 1931 for businessman George F. Baker, Jr. and designed by the architecture firm Delano & Aldrich.
The homes were later owned by investment banker Richard H. Jenrette, the late co-founder of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, the first New York Stock Exchange member to go public — and a noted preservationist, who died in 2018 at age 89. The listing broker was Joshua Wesoky of Compass.
Brant, the polo-playing publisher of “Art in America,” “ARTnews” and “Interview,” and Seymour, one of the original supermodels, tragically lost their beloved son Harry last year.
This is not the first time the power couple bought a piece of New York City history.
In 2014, they paid $27 million — $2 million over ask — for four-story home in the East Village that had been built in 1921, and where the artist/conductor Walter De Maria lived and worked. That home now serves as The Brant Foundation Art Study Center and Shop.
The Upper East Side townhouses — 47 feet wide — are perfectly preserved, with grand details from another era.
“The homes have not been touched in 30 years. They need a lot of work, but they are beautiful,” a source said, adding that renovations will “run well into the millions” of dollars.
No. 67 opens to a formal entry hall with high ceilings, a wood-burning fireplace and original marble floors. French doors lead to a courtyard that connects to No. 69. There’s also a dramatic round staircase — “one of the most beautiful in Manhattan” brags the listing — and an oval dining room with marble inlay floors, another fireplace and wall niches for sculpture.
The second floor, once used for staff, is now a full-floor library and home office — with the original walk-in silver safe.
Next door, No. 69 boasts a portico with a wrought iron lantern and a curb cut that leads to apple-green double doors housing the five-car garage. The corner living room has 14-foot ceilings and an “elaborately carved” wood burning fireplace — the room could also connect to the front parlor of No. 67.
No word yet on whether the family plans to combine the spreads into mega-mansion.
This is not the couple’s only real estate project either. Last April, Brant and Seymour sold their oceanfront Sagaponack estate for $26 million. A year earlier, in 2020, they had bought a $47 million Palm Beach estate from the family of the late Alfred Taubman, the shopping mall mogul and chair of Sotheby’s, who was convicted in an auction house price-fixing scheme.
In addition, Brant and Seymour own a 50-acre spread in Greenwich known as Conyers Farm, which is a gated community that Brant developed. It features the Greenwich Polo Club, where the Duke of Sussex — then known as Prince Harry — played in 2013. Past and current residents of Conyers Farm include Tom Cruise, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel and filmmaker Ron Howard.