Every so often, one of New York’s all but hidden real estate stories surfaces, and this one takes place directly across from the Met, where a grand Rosario Candela-designed duplex at the illustrious 990 Fifth Avenue, with a history as rich as its parquet floors, has emerged on the open market for the first time in nearly 100 years. 

The story begins in 1927, when George and Annie Laurie Crawford moved into the brand-new apartment house that rose on the site of the original F.W. Woolworth Mansion. Their daughter, Martha “Sunny” Crawford, grew up here long before she became known around the world as Sunny von Bülow, the heiress whose tragic life inspired the bestselling novel Reversal of Fortune and its 1990 Oscar-winning film adaptation. Sunny spent the last 28 years of her life in a vegetative state, but back then, she was simply a young girl roaming the halls and gazing out at Central Park from the same windows that frame those same views today.

After her first husband’s death, Annie Laurie married Russell Barnett Aitken, a sculptor, writer, sportsman, and all-around Renaissance character. The couple became devoted patrons of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and their names still live on in the museum’s English Galleries and Arms and Armor Galleries.

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The apartment’s next chapter intertwined with another prominent family. Years after Annie Laurie’s passing, Aitken married Irene Boyd Roosevelt, the widow of John Aspinwall Roosevelt, the youngest son of Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt. She lived in the lavish duplex until her death in 2025, quietly presiding over one of the few virtually untouched Candela homes left in the city.

Step inside today, and it feels as though time has politely held its breath. A private elevator landing opens into a gracious foyer with 11-foot ceilings, and the formal rooms unfold in classic Candela fashion. The corner 550-square-foot living room is filled with light and anchored by a marble fireplace, while the library adds another fireplace between lighted display niches, and the dining room a third, along with inlaid marble floors. The original kitchen, butler’s pantry, and three staff rooms—one converted to a modern laundry room—remain as they were originally configured nearly a century ago.

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A gold-leafed wrought-iron staircase leads to the bedroom level, where the corner primary suite enjoys the same postcard views of the park and the Met. Three additional ensuite bedrooms open off a long corridor lined with closets, and one is spacious enough to function as a second primary suite—fireplace included.

The duplex spans about 4,300 square feet and is on the market for $20 million with Christine Miller Martin of Compass. In a final nod to the family’s long tradition of cultural philanthropy, the proceeds will benefit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick Collection, and the Morgan Library and Museum.

Click here to see more photos of Sunny von Bülow’s childhood home.