Stephen Sondheim's Manhattan Townhouse Sells To Fan For $7M

Stephen Sondheim's Manhattan home has been sold to a Sondheim fan!

The home was recently sold to the lucky buyer for the full $7 million asking price. The sale of the 7 bedroom, 3 bath townhouse in East Midtown was facilitated by Michael J. Franco at Compass.

According to Franco, the property drew a large number of interested potential buyers but was ultimately sold to an as yet unnamed Sondheim fan who plants to use the 5,700-square-foot home as their primary residence.

Located at 246 East 49th Street, the late composer's home of 60 years "sits among the 20 historic homes that comprise Turtle Bay Gardens, the coveted enclave situated on 48th and 49th Streets between Second and Third Avenues. Sondheim purchased the home in 1960 after writing the lyrics for the hit musicals West Side Story and Gypsy. 

Created in 1920 from a collection of 1860’s townhouses, the homes share a private communal garden accessible only from one of these storied homes. Previous owners of these homes have included Katharine Hepburn, Garson Kanin, Robert Gottlieb and Maxwell Perkins, to name a few," according to the listing.

The home includes a music studio on the second floor [that] features a music library, wood-burning fireplace, a baby grand piano, and original stained glass windows. 

Check out the video tour below!

Stephen Sondheim is widely acknowledged as the most innovative, most influential, and most important composer and lyricist in modern Broadway history. He is the winner of an Academy Award, numerous Tony Award, multiple Grammy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize. Some of his other accolades include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center Honors (1993), the National Medal of Arts (1996), the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Gold Medal for Music (2006) and a special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre (2008).

Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics for Road Show (2008), Passion (1994), Assassins (1991), Into the Woods (1987), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sweeney Todd (1979), Pacific Overtures (1976), The Frogs (1974), A Little Night Music (1973), Follies (1971; revised in London, 1987), Company (1970), Anyone Can Whistle (1964) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), as well as the lyrics for West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959), Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965) and additional lyrics for Candide (1973). Side by Side by Sondheim (1976), Marry Me a Little (1981), You're Gonna Love Tomorrow (1983) and Putting It Together (1993/99) are anthologies of his work, as is the new musical Sondheim on Sondheim. He composed the film scores of Stavisky (1974) and Reds (1981) and songs for Dick Tracy (Academy Award, 1990). He also wrote songs for the television production "Evening Primrose" (1966), co-authored, with Anthony Perkins, the film The Last of Sheila (1973) and, with George Furth, the play Getting Away with Murder (1996), and provided incidental music for the plays The Girls of Summer (1956), Invitation to a March (1961) and Twigs (1971). He won Tony Awards for Best Score for a Musical for Passion, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Follies and Company. All of these shows won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, as did Pacific Overtures and Sunday in the Park with George, the latter also receiving the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Saturday Night (1954), his first professional musical, finally had its New York premiere in 1999 at Second Stage Theatre.