Bi-Coastal Double Whammy: Norman Jean Roy (New York City)

SELLER: Norman Jean Roy and Joanna Isobel Kelly
LOCATION: New York City, NY
PRICE: $2,275,000
SIZE: 1,604 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Earlier today we discussed a 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom bungalow in Hollywood (CA) owned by hot-shot celebrity photographer Norman Jean Roy and on the market with a $1,395,000 price tag.

This afternoon we shift to New York City where a 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom condo crib owned by Mister Roy and his professional photographer wife—or ex-wife, no disrespect, we're not sure—Joanna Isobel Kelly has been on the market since the early days of 2012 when it appeared with an asking price of $2,390,000. Since then the price has dropped 5% to its current figure of $2,275,000.

Property records indicate Miz Kelly and Mister Roy only picked up the Flatiron District condo in March 2011 for $2,050,000. We'll leave the children to speculate if this quick flip is for investment purposes, represents a common case of The Real Estate Fickle, or if it's an indication of something else entirely we neither allude to nor claim to know anything about.

Listing information shows the west-facing, loft-minded condo weighs in at 1,604 square feet and includes a total of 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms plus a surprisingly and marvelously large-for-New-York-City combination laundry/pantry room.

The sleek, loft like condo has nearly-white hardwood floors underfoot and crisp, gallery-white walls that Your Mama adores unapologetically. A couple of exposed Corinthian columns—one in the kitchen one in the hallway near the door to the master bedroom—speak to the architectural history and dignity of the pre-war building that once housed the world's largest shoe store according to information we dug up on the interweb.

There's a wrought iron-railed Juliet balcony off the dining area that's open wide to the state-of-the-art kitchen all done up with glistening, Poggenpohl-brand white lacquer cabinets; winter white Corian-brand counter tops; a four-stool snack counter; and top-grade, Euro-style appliances including an integrated Sub-Zero fridge-freezer. We'd have better appreciated if those high-gloss cabinets went all the way to the ceiling but at least Miz Kelly and/or Mister Roy had the good sense not to stick some fake ferns or wicker baskets up in that squat space.

The current residents—who may or may not be Mister Roy and/or Miz Kelly, we don't know—utilize the second bedroom as a living room and the original living/dining space as an extra-specially spacious dining room with two full walls of high-end shelving units that hold a rafts of actual books, a few black and white photographs, and a number of knick-knacks like that gold-plated Harry Allen pig bank that we live and die for.

The master bedroom isn't humongous or even big by any standard but its relative wee-ness is partly made up for by the custom-fitted closet/dressing room that's the size of a small bedroom. Presumably both bathrooms are a sybarite's naughty dream but all we can vouch for is the long, windowless master facility complete double sinks set on floating wood cabinets and an egg-shaped soaking tub set into a niche sheathed in gleaming white tile. One-inch (or so) square pixilated grey tiles climb two walls floor-to-ceiling opposite the sinks and bathtub but switch again to all white in the good-sized (but hardly party-sized) stall shower fitted with one of those can-be-annoying rain-type shower heads.


Taxes and common charges for the condo ring up to $3,554 per month, according to listing information, and cover costs for building maintenance and amenities that include 24-7 doorman, fitness center, 3,600 square foot landscaped roof deck and—bargain shoppers and penny pinchers will appreciate—a one-block walk to both Trader Joe's and T.J.Maxx.

listing photos and floor plan: Brown Harris Stevens