Hugh Jackman Nabs Minimalist West Chelsea Penthouse

Last autumn, Architectural Digest featured triple-threat entertainer Hugh Jackman and wife Deborra Lee-Furness’s minimalist East Hampton home. Unlike typical Hamptons homes, the Jackman spread, on the bay side of town, embraces a less-is-more aesthetic.

Perhaps not so unsurprisingly, so does the couple’s newest acquisition, a penthouse overlooking the Hudson River in Manhattan’s West Chelsea, in an eye-catching building designed by Pritzker Prize winning French architect Jean Nouvel. The asymmetrically gridded building was completed in 2010 and has just 57 units across its 23 floors. Nouvel worked with executive architect Beyer Blinder Belle Architects on the project.

Initially listed last October at $25 million, Jackman paid $21.125 million for the 4,675-square-foot penthouse, as the Wall Street Journal was first to report. The four-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom apartment was repped by Noble Black at Douglas Elliman; sellers were Daniel Fischel and Sylvia Neil, Chicago-based consultants and deans at the University of Chicago Law School.

Interiors are spare and elegant, just the type of thing to appeal to the minimalist favoring couple. The original terrazzo flooring was retained by the previous owners, who added a polished marble staircase that leads to a 4,400 square foot roof terrace.

The roof terrace has two dining areas, a kitchen, and a bridge across the loggia to a sun deck. Of course, as nice and rare for New York City as all that is, the 360-degree views of Manhattan, the Hudson, up to the Empire State Building and down to the Statue of Liberty are the standout feature of the roof terrace. There are two additional outdoor spaces on the main floor, a small balcony outside one of the guest bedrooms and a loggia that smartly sports glass walls to protect from the cold wind that whips up off the river.

Fourteen-foot ceilings, two fireplaces, including one designed to mimic the building’s copious Jenga-like fenestration, are some of the other wonderful features. The open-plan floor-through apartment, with rooms that flow easily into one another, is perfect for entertaining as well, both inside and out. And despite being open and minimalist, there is plenty of wall space for showing off an art collection.

Privately tucked away at one end, the master suite is large and tranquil, with numerous closets, a good-sized dressing room and a gleaming all-white lbathroom. Perfect for guests or kids and their nanny, the other bedrooms are situated for maximum privacy at the opposite end of the apartment.

Amenities in the building include a full time doorman, concierge, a gym, a spa, lap pool and screening room. At the residents’ doorstep are all the exciting attractions of Chelsea, including the new Little Island and the High Line.

As large and impressive as Jackman and Lee-Furness’s new digs are, it’s a significant downsize from the 11,000-square-foot West Village triplex they heaved on the market about two months ago with heaps of publicity and a $38.9 million price tag.