House: 45 West 12th Street

45 W 12th st
Built in 1846 on what once was known as Minetta Creek, this triangular shaped, four bedroom, three bath townhouse with four floors and a basement still has the original façade, staircase and beams.

The rest of the house has been fully restored in an Italian Renaissance style by Milanese decorator Roberto Gerosa.
The house features three wood-burning fireplaces, Venetian glass walls and gold-leaf ceiling in the living room. It has a fourth floor terrace. The deed to the cobble stone courtyard is said to once have been owned by English royalty, and in another era Frank Lloyd Wright’s sister once owned and lived in the house.

The east side wall of this building slants back because it originally faced the once above ground, Minetta Brook. The brook was once a placid stream dividing the lower of Manhattan Island from 21st Street and Fifth Ave in the North to the East River, down by King Street in the South.

Building Description Provided by Filippa Edberg