Meryl Streep’s former New York townhouse was built in 1845; the five-storey home featured six fireplaces and a rooftop garden

Meryl Streep’s former Greenwich Village home is a reminder of how much history can sit behind the red-brick façades of New York’s residential streets. Built in 1845, the five-storey townhouse at 19 West 12th Street once belonged to the three-time Academy Award winner, who owned it for a decade before selling it in 2005. The property later changed hands twice before reaching the market with an asking price of $28.5 million in 2016, following a $6.5 million reduction. Spread across several levels, the house combines period architecture with a layout that includes six bedrooms, a rooftop garden and a substantial marble bathroom. Six fireplaces add another detail to its historic character.Inside Meryl Streep’s historic Greenwich Village townhouse with six fireplacesThe house stands on West 12th Street in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, an area known for its older townhouses and residential blocks. Dating from 1845, the building was designed in the Late Greek Revival style, a form of architecture associated with the period’s interest in classical proportions and restrained ornament. Its red-brick exterior and narrow street frontage distinguish it from the larger apartment buildings found elsewhere in Manhattan.The property is 25 feet wide and extends across five storeys, with approximately 6,585 square feet of interior space, according to the estate details reported by Mansion Global in 2016. That vertical arrangement gives the house a series of separate living areas rather than a single expansive floor plan. Its six fireplaces are among the features associated with its historic residential design, while later fittings and amenities accommodate contemporary use.Meryl Streep’s former townhouse listed for $28.5 millionStreep purchased the townhouse in 1995 for $2.1 million. She retained ownership for ten years before selling it to Libet Johnson, an heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, for $9.1 million in 2005. Johnson's ownership lasted only two years. In 2007, she sold the house for $12.8 million, and Elisabeth de Kergorlay, a countess and entrepreneur, acquired it in 2008 for $13.5 million, as reported by The Mansion Global.The succession of owners reflects the property's position in New York's high-end residential market. By September 2016, the townhouse was being offered for $28.5 million, down from an earlier asking price of $35 million that February. The reduction brought the advertised price $6.5 million lower, although the listing price alone did not establish what a future buyer might pay.Streep's connection to the house remained a central part of its appeal in property coverage. Her ownership, from 1995 to 2005, placed the residence among the private homes associated with one of Hollywood's most recognised actors. The building itself, however, predates her career by well over a century.The townhouse pairs a garden-facing terrace with six period fireplacesThe townhouse's interior was arranged to give different floors distinct purposes. The main entertaining rooms occupied the parlor level, where the living room and bar area sat alongside a formal dining room. From there, doors opened onto a terrace overlooking a garden, providing an outdoor space within the dense urban setting.At garden level, the house included a caretaker's apartment with its own kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. Higher up, the third floor contained a bedroom with an en-suite bathroom, as well as a sitting area and study. Two further bedrooms occupied the fourth floor, with a powder room in the hall. This distribution allowed the property to accommodate household staff, private working space and guest or family bedrooms without concentrating everything on the principal living floor.Six fireplaces formed part of the home's collection of period features. In a building constructed in the mid-19th century, such details offer a sense of its original domestic character, even as the rooms have been adapted for later owners. The available property report identifies the fireplaces as a feature but does not provide a room-by-room breakdown of their locations.The townhouse combines an expansive marble bathroom with skyline viewsThe top floor was devoted to the principal bedroom suite, which included a particularly large bathroom finished in Italian Calacatta marble. Reported to measure about 450 square feet, the bathroom stretched across the width of the townhouse. Its fittings included a cast-iron bathtub, a separate freestanding shower and a fireplace, combining the scale of a luxury bathroom with the older building's traditional architectural details.Above the house, a rooftop garden offered views across the city skyline. The basement provided additional storage and laundry space, leaving the main floors available for living, entertaining and sleeping. Together with the garden-level apartment and terrace, these features gave the property several outdoor and service areas despite its relatively narrow frontage.The townhouse’s asking price fell to $28.5 million in 2016The townhouse attracted renewed attention in 2016 when its asking price was reduced from $35 million to $28.5 million. Mansion Global reported that an open house had been scheduled for 3 October that year, with the Corcoran Group handling the listing. The property had therefore moved well beyond the prices paid by its earlier owners, at least in terms of its advertised value.The reported transaction history provides a clear sequence: Streep bought the house for $2.1 million in 1995, Johnson paid $9.1 million in 2005, another buyer acquired it for $12.8 million in 2007, and de Kergorlay paid $13.5 million in 2008. The $28.5 million figure was the property's asking price in 2016, not a confirmed sale price.Ready to Make a Smarter Property Decision? Build Your Legacy with TOI Homes.