UES Mansion With A Glamorous Past Hits The Market At $65M

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A landmarked limestone mansion from the Gilded Age just hit the market for a whopping $65 million.

The eye-popping mansion, which was owned by the late Iranian billionaire oil executive Hushang Ansary, is located at 15 East 96th St., between Fifth and Madison avenues.

The palatial home includes 14,800 square feet spread across five floors, as well as 3,237 square feet of garden and terrace space, according to Sotheby's International Realty, which listed the mansion.

The mansion has eight bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and three powder rooms, according to the listing.

The building also has 11 fireplaces, an elevator, a Louis XIV–style library, a solarium, a heated driveway and a turntable garage.

The mansion was bought by Ansary, who died in January, according to Crain's New York Business, which first reported the listing.

Ansary was the Economic and Finance Minister of Iran and Iranian Ambassador to the United States. He was also the CEO of IRI International Corporation and CEO of the National Iranian Oil Company.

The building has changed hands with some very well-heeled people. The building was built in 1915 for Lucy Drexel Dahlgren, the daughter of the financier, John W. Drexel, and Lucy Wharton Drexel, a descendant of Thomas Wharton, the first state governor of Pennsylvania, according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

However, Dahlgren lived there for just a few years, later renting it to Pierre Cartier, the heir to the Cartier jewelry house, the Landmarks Preservation Commission's report shows.

The mansion was built by architect Ogden Codman Jr., who built two other Beaux-Arts buildings nearby: one at 991 Fifth Ave., occupied by the American Irish Historical Society, and one at 18 East 79th St., occupied by Acquavella Galleries.

See the listing here.

For questions, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.