Back in the 1970s, Bill DeSeta and his then-fiancée and now wife, Donna Lazzara, doled out a mere $170,000 for a charming yet rundown Elizabethan Renaissance Revival townhouse in Manhattan that was formerly a single-family residence but had been chopped up and left to squatters. The showbiz couple—he a Broadway producer and director, and she a casting director and the sister of Bernadette Peters—subsequently embarked upon an extensive renovation of the six-story property, converting it into a multifamily building with an owner’s duplex on the second and third floors and several rental units above and below that have welcomed the likes of actress Mary-Louise Parker and Cabaret star Joel Grey.

The DeSetas first put the limestone-and-brick structure, located on West 80th Street in the Riverside-West End Historic District, on the market in 2017 for $20 million, and considered a $15 million offer, but decided they weren’t ready to sell at the time. They put it up for sale again in 2020 for $12 million, after new laws protecting renters in multifamily buildings had just passed and caused the value to plummet, and then reduced it to $10 million before removing it from the listings.

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Last year, after making a permanent move to Florida, they doubled down on their efforts to offload the place, asking $7 million. Though that elicited a bidding war and a $7.8 million contract, the deal fell through. Now, in a bit of a déjà vu moment, the building has once again returned to the market with the same exact $7 million asking price.

When coming up with a design plan at the outset, Bill and Donna pursued a “medieval castle fantasy” vibe, according to Curbed. The result? A conglomeration of gothic, moody interiors featuring hand-laid parquet floors, dark wood-paneled walls, period wallpaper, stained-glass windows, arched doorways, and secret panels. There’s also a grand staircase complemented by an elevator, a full basement, a rare private garage with a curb cut, and a sprawling rooftop garden overlooking the Hudson River.

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Designed and built in 1897 by noted developer and architect Clarence True, the historic spread clocks in at 43 feet wide and roughly 11,600 square feet. It offers a total of 14 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms, the standout of which is a 3,000-square-foot owner’s duplex that is centered on a double-height salon with an ornate stone fireplace and a built-in cocktail bar. Other highlights include a bookshelf-lined study, a coffer-ceilinged dining room sporting a fireplace-turned-terracotta wine rack, and a primary suite with a separate sitting room.

Per Mark Jovanovic and Scott Hustis of Paradigm Advisory at Compass, who hold the listing, the infrastructure offers limitless potential to be reimagined as a colossal single-family residence or a luxury investment property.

Click here for more photos of the Manhattan building.