This Manhattan Town House
Comes With a Key to the Park

What: Five-story, 23-room town house measuring about 8,800 square feet

Where: New York

Amenities: Rear courtyard and garden, eight fireplaces, elevator, parquet floors, six maid's rooms. Third-level, clay-tiled terrace

Asking Price: $16.9 million

Opening Bid*: $16 million

Listing Agents: Erin Boisson Aries, Corcoran Group, 212-941-2568

Due Diligence: Built in 1847, this 27-foot-wide house sits on a tree-lined street across from Gramercy Park in Manhattan. For the past 17 years, the property served as headquarters for the Edwin Gould Foundation for Children, a charity endowed in 1923 by the son of financier Jay Gould to support educational programs for youth. The charity is moving its offices to recently purchased property in the Financial District, says Michael Osheowitz, its chairman. Gramercy is Manhattan's only private park, where bird feeding and Frisbee playing are forbidden. According to park trustee Arlene Harrison, residents in about 40 buildings facing the park -- including this one -- can pay $350 yearly for a park key. (Replacements cost $1,000.) All rooms inside the Greek-Revival mansion have their original mahogany doors and shutters. An eight-foot-wide, oval glass dome in the roof lets sunlight onto an original grand staircase. Stained-glass windows line the front vestibule, and large back-parlor windows have garden views. Though the house served as an office, the listing agent says that the original layout is intact and that the house can be restored back to a residence with between six and eight bedrooms.

Additional Photos

Email your comments to rjeditor@dowjones.com.