After almost a decade of ownership, vaunted veteran movie scribe and director Paul Schrader plans to write himself out of a glass-walled condominium in New York City’s trendy, art-gallery filled West Chelsea neighborhood with a ticket price of $3.25 million. The 2019 Oscar nominee (“First Reformed”), who has written and, in some cases, directed an impressive number of iconic cinematic tours de force, including “Taxi Driver,” “American Gigolo,” “Raging Bull” and “The Last Temptation of Christ,” acquired the airy, modern-minded condo with his actress wife, Mary Beth Hurt-Schrader, in 2009 for $1.95 million. Located on the middle-floor of an eight-story boutique building designed by New York-based Daniel Goldner Architects with an eye-catching grid of itty-bitty balconies against walls of glass, the long, slender, not quite 2,000 sq. ft. unit is configured three bedrooms and 2.5 clean-lined contemporary bathrooms.
A key-lock elevator opens directly into an airy, loft-like living and dining space that features rift-cut oak floorboards, a comprehensive sound system with iPhone docking and a floor-to-ceiling bank of bookshelves next to a minimalist fireplace with asymmetrical display niche. A room-wide wall of full-height windows that open to a tiny Juliet balcony fill the space with light and provide an unobstructed view into the verdant, swaying treetops that shade a small park on the other side of a wide, cross-town thoroughfare.
Completely open to the living and dining space and arranged around a doublewide island, the sleekly appointed kitchen sports shimmering dove-grey glass tile backsplashes, up-to-date name-brand appliances, handle-free dark chocolate brown cabinets and glinting, almost white countertops. At the rear of the unit, at the end of a corridor long enough to do wind sprint exercises, there are two guest bedrooms, one of them furnished as an office/den and the other definitely on the wee side, along with a master suite that opens to a step-out balcony and includes a pass-through closet/dressing area and marble-floored bathroom.
Schrader’s unit also includes a private storage locker and a separate bike storage area. Residents of the 15-unit building benefit from a part-time human doorman, as well as a full-time virtual doorman service. And, a communal landscaped roof terrace allows for what marketing materials describe as “extraordinary” city views.
The condominium unit, which carries taxes and common charges of more than $4,200 per month, per listing details, is represented by Leonard Steinberg and Lois Planco at Compass.
