Exclusive | NYC’s Woolworth Mansion has sold for $38M

Manhattan’s largest private residence has changed hands for $38 million, closing out one of the city’s more dramatic multi-year pricing sagas, The Post has learned.

The Woolworth Mansion on East 80th Street — an approximately 20,000-square-foot limestone townhouse originally crafted in 1915 for Helena Woolworth McCann — entered contract in late October and officially transferred ownership on Nov. 28, according to public records.

The property returned to the market last year at just under $50 million, already a steep markdown from the $59 million ask it carried the previous fall — and far removed from the $90 million its sellers sought in 2012.

Listing broker Adam Modlin, of Modlin Group, previously described the residence as “the best value” for a home of this magnitude.

The final number — roughly equivalent to a boutique condo’s worth of space for every thousand square feet — reflects both the mansion’s unusual scale and the scarcity of comparable prewar estates on the Upper East Side.

Part of a trio of neighboring homes developed for five-and-dime magnate Frank Woolworth’s daughters, the 35-foot-wide structure retains many of its early 20th-century flourishes: stonework, stained glass, detailed mosaics and an oversized dining hall built to accommodate formal entertaining.

The interior spans nine bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and three kitchens — along with amenities including a gym, a sauna, a library, a rooftop lounge and a solarium.

The sellers, the family of the late fitness-club founder Lucille Roberts, acquired the mansion in 1995 for $6 million — about $13 million today — and spent years restoring it.

Roberts lived there until her death in 2003, after which her widower and sons remained in the home for more than a decade.

Her children have described the residence as the nerve center of her elaborate holiday gatherings. Kevin Roberts told the Wall Street Journal last year that his parents went “all out” for their annual Christmas parties, adding, “That’s what my mother did in the last years of her life.”

Despite running one of the city’s best-known women’s gym chains, Roberts resisted the idea of installing exercise equipment at home.

Her son Kirk told the Journal that she avoided it because she feared it would “ruin the aesthetic,” instead opting to work out in Central Park or at a neighborhood gym.

This property briefly tested the luxury rental market in 2021 at $80,000 a month — later rising to $125,000 for a summer term — before landing back on the sales market amid a renewed run on historic townhouses.

Several record-setting deals in the area over the past two years have underscored the revived appetite for prewar architecture in turnkey condition.

The mansion also drew attention from lifestyle entrepreneur Martha Stewart, who toured the home and promoted Kaminski Auctions’ sale of more than 500 items from the Roberts collection.

The auction house opened the residence for previews earlier this month and offered pieces ranging from $50 decorative pillows to a Steinway grand piano starting at $2,500.