This unusual three-family townhouse at 532 West 148th Street in Hamilton Heightswas purchased by Portuguese-born architect Luis Da Cruz in 2006 for $995,000 and thoroughly renovated as a canvas for the artist’s personal creative vision. Cruz restored the 1920 home’s carved wood stairways and railings, moldings, five fireplaces, beamed ceiling, and exposed brick walls, and added his signature art pieces to an eclectic, bohemian decor, calling the house Musée Maison (Museum House) and making it his studio and workshop. He also hosted art events during which all of the work was for sale and he would perform tricks on aerial silks suspended from the ceiling. The house itself has been on and off the market since 2007. In 2015 6sqft featured the artsy listing at $2.5 million and again after a broker change in 2017 asking $2.7M. Now, another broker switch and more conventional photos–but no change in price–herald the latest attempt to find a suitably visionary buyer.
The “Art House,” the latest listing tells us, hits the market just in time to host an art installation curated by owner. In addition to art-world cred, the four-story, four-bedroom home boasts modern interiors mixed with stunning original detail on a quiet tree-lined block. Filled with modern comfort and unique design, the house offers Victorian cherry wood paneling, five original fireplaces, and 14-foot beamed ceilings. A striking double staircase adds drama.
A renovated kitchen boasts stainless steel appliances, a washer/dryer and a wine fridge in an haute-loft setting of steel cabinets and concrete worktops. A vast open-concept dining room is filled with light. According to a 2013 Daily News article, the resident artwork consists of “raw material culled from construction sites, street corners, junkyards and demolished homes in all five boroughs and lovingly turned into paintings, mobiles, furniture, chandeliers and candelabras.”
The open floor plan continues upstairs in the large master bedroom and second bedroom. Previous listing images of a circus-like curtain barely concealing the bath and other notably offbeat features are absent from the newest pitch.
There’s plenty of space on the roof for outdoor living and summertime entertaining.
A one-bedroom garden apartment has access to the private backyard and a separate entrance. This space can be converted into a separate apartment for extra income, used as an artist’s studio or simply provide more space for a sprawling single-family home. The house has central heat and AC throughout.
