The bulging, bug-eyed windows of the townhouse at 251 East 71st Street made it a neighborhood landmark. But the Bubble House was never actually landmarked, and most of the serious buyers who came through after it listed last year weren’t there for the façade. They were looking for a blank canvas to gut renovate in a quiet part of town, says Richard Pretsfelder, the listing broker. On Friday, he closed a $4.99 million sale to a family that wasn’t hunting for an architectural oddity. They will “very likely” take out the windows, he says. After all, “the majority who came in were planning on restoring it to a more traditional façade.”
Stunned, I asked him to confirm. The buyers didn’t want to be public but answered a text minutes later, writing, “We don’t know yet.”
