Harper Lee's Former UES NYC Apartment Up For Rent

That’s a bit of a hardscrabble block. I had no idea she lived there! And that she was known to her neighbors. How strange.

Rents are at an all-time high. That apartment would have been much cheaper, but now that there’s a new subway station just a block away, landlords feel justified charging more.

Does it come with Truman Capote's spooge on the walls?

There's a long standing rumor that Truman Capote wrote most of, "to Kill a Mockingbird" to help his childhood friend Harper Lee establish herself in the literary world. She finally wrote a second novel, “Go Set a Watchman,” in 2015. It was not well received

" Before this apartment, she lived across East 82nd Street in a building whose demolition led her to move into this other 82nd Street address."

That likely were group of buildings on East 82nd, along York avenue and round block on East 81st that were demolished to build 444 East 82nd, The Clermont, that went up in 1966.

Or it could be where 420 East 82nd street is now which went up in 1960.

420 East 82nd .....

Overall yes, East 82nd from Third down to East End is one large slice of old Yorkville. Not much as changed in area, it's like a little village, especially from about First past York onto East End.

I know it's in a good neighborhood, but $3100 a month for that dungeon is depressing

Anyone who shells out $3,100 for that apartment wants their head examined. There are other choices in Yorkville for less or same money that are far better apartments. You likely could find a decent one bedroom in area for that kind of money.

Am not even going to start about how that much money per month easily could be a mortgage payment.

Why didn't she stay down in the south. I guess she wasn't true to her roots.

No wonder she didn’t write anything more. Who could do anything in that apartment other than stay in bed to avoid looking at it.

That's rather grim. Low ceilings, bad proportions, too few and too small windows, the emergency egress jailhouse locks on the window bars, the orange-brown floors, the barely better than a landlord's halo ceiling lamps, a nasty little kitchen of the cheapest possible finished sitting right there in the middle of everything (why not continue the trend and put a shitter in the middle of the same room?)

Not much literary inspiration to be found here.

Sadly or not, there are scores if not hundreds of studio apartments just like this one all over UES/Yorkville an elsewhere in NYC.

Some are pre-war, but good number are in buildings that went up in 1960's and 1970's. Nicer ones will have separate kitchen usually off a short hall on other side of bathroom. This IMHO is better because one isn't entirely living in just one room. Tudor City is full of studio or efficiency apartments, it was one of the major design points of the complex.

These studio or efficiency apartments (yes there is a difference) be it pre-war, after and still now were designed for career or working single people. In a pinch two people could share, but things would be tight. All over Yorkville there are married couples who've spent decades in these small studio or efficiency apartments.

R10

Those bars on windows are common for ground floor NYC apartments for ages. Many also have them if they face rear of building, especially if their windows open onto fire escape.

Well into 1980's UES/Yorkville like rest of NYC was a far different and often dangerous place. You certainly did not want to have your windows open so anyone could just climb in...

It was either those bars or accordion folding metal gates or other devices.

As city has gotten safer some have taken these various contraptions down. But now and then you still hear often enough about a burglary or worse (sexual assault) where perp climbed in through an open window....

More...

Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage...

R3 is an idiot. GO SET A WATCHMAN was an early draft of TKAM.

R3 I highly doubt that messy, gossipy queen like Capote would be able to keep that a secret. Sounds more like something people say because they want to discredit the contributions of women; like when people say Kurt Cobain wrote Courtney Love’s music, ect.

And, Go Tell The Watchmen only proves that Lee wrote To Kill A Mockingbird. It was clearly an early draft of the novel, not an independent work. It shouldn’t have ever been published.

Bitch liked it basic.

@r15, I don't care when she wrote it, "Go Set A Watchman" was Harper Lee's only other novel published in 2015

You unfuckable twat

Thanks, R11, for the link. Although it gives a rather imprecise distinction of efficiency and studio apartment. The distinction in my mind is that the latter can in some cases be a stylish, pleasant space, while an efficiency is at best efficient. The example in the illustration is a very nice space, with rustication on the walls no less, and with 14 steps to the stand-up loft, it has a rare luxury of vertical space.

I am a big fan of the "artist's studio" type of apartment popular among well-heeled or successful artists in NYC (and elsewhere) from the very late 19thC through the WWI years example 131-135 E 66th built 1907.)

But Harper Lee's old digs, though a not uncommon form, are disappointingly hardscrabble and a bit antiquated in the sense that small spaces are one area where architecture has advanced in recent decades to something more thought, less dirt basic.

R18, you’re missing a comma as well as the point. In your first post, you said that Lee “finally wrote a second novel, Go Set a Watchman, in 2015.” But not only did she not write it in 2015, she wrote it before To Kill a Mockingbird. If you read the Wikipedia article you so triumphantly linked to, you would know this.

I’ll explain where you’re missing a comma if you ask politely.

Kurt cobain absolutely wrote most of Hole’s first album and Corgan the second

@r20, Oh, for Christ's sake, get over yourself

You're missing a chromosome, but we're too polite to mention it

Go set a watch, MAN!

[quote]I am a big fan of the "artist's studio" type of apartment popular among well-heeled or successful artists in NYC (and elsewhere) from the very late 19thC through the WWI years example 131-135 E 66th built 1907.

Aren't we all, R19?

^ How cool is that?

It's an artist's dream apartment, to be sure. O, the morning light when it comes through the barred window. It's like being on the Isle of Greece at dawn.

Yes R3 is an idiot. Capote and Lee have very distinctive voices. No way he wrote, or even contributed to Lee’s TWO masterworks.

Didn’t one of those competing Capote movies imply that Lee wrote some of IN COLD BLOOD? I may be misremembering.

I wouldn’t call WATCHMAN a masterwork, though, no matter how hard HarperCollins tried to make us think that.

@r27, "There's a long standing **rumor** that Truman Capote wrote most of, "to Kill a Mockingbird"

ru·mor /ˈro͞omər/

noun

noun: rumour; plural noun: rumours; noun: rumor; plural noun: rumors

a currently circulating story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth. "they were investigating rumors of a massacre"

Is there anything else I can help you with, like holding your dick so that you can pee

@r28, yes, that's another prevailing rumor. Seems that Capote and Lee had a long time love/hate relationship that obviously influence each others writing

Now, about that horrid little apartment that someone who may have wrote something might have lived in

R19

Actually Yorkville and small slice of UES around Lexington avenue from about 60's through 80's was once known as "secretaries row". Going back to post war years at least (if not before) area was home to young or older women (single) who worked in offices and so forth.

Being so close to "bed pan alley" (New York Hospital, Rockefeller University Hospital, Ear, Eye, Nose and Throat Hospital, Hospital for Special Surgery, and Lenox Hill Hospital start at East 60's and go up to East 77th), Yorkville and again small slice of UES also was and still is known for tons of nurses who live in area.

Until recently only subway line for UES is on Lexington avenue. That sort of made Yorkville east of Second and certainly as one went further east towards river not always a highly desirable area. As such rents in Yorkville even late as early 2000's were often comparatively cheap compared to other areas of city. Large areas of Yorkville east of Third avenue were as such frozen in time so to speak, there just wasn't huge demand I suppose.

That now has changed with Second Avenue Subway, and rents are going up, up, up! Tons of new development has sprung up, and more is coming down the pike.

Friend moved to Yorkville (east 80's) around middle of 1990's. Area was still full of Hungarians and old school Irish with bit of Italians. There were also a good number of trannies, most all worked indoor pros ads listed in Screw or Village Voice, then later online.

Main issue with that area is some blocks have rats like you wouldn't believe.

R32, I saw two giant rat corpses in the street, squashed by cars, on 83rd and Second. Since the street sweeper never seems to hit that block, I guess they’ll be there until the pigeons pick them clean.

Then what’s her other novel published in 2015, R18?

it's a DUMP

[QUOTE] bed pan alley

Oh Mary, the names. Such a rich slice of life. Whatever would we do without these NYC neighborhood names?

Strange, I lived on that block — 82nd between first and York — for about eight years, from 1991 to 1999, and had no idea HL was four buildings down.

R36 is posting from the ChuckECheez in his local strip mall.

I think it's cute r36 and want to hear other cutesy names

It just seems so self-important. Having specialized nicknames for every small grouping of blocks. Just saying.

The apartment is "cozy", so it comes with its own Murphy Bed. Ensconced within is the mummified body of the late Ms. Lee's cat. A special surprise for future renters.

[quote]Tudor City is full of studio or efficiency apartments

Those buildings are sooo beautiful, gorgeous lobbies, a sophisticated setting...but the apartments in those buildings are horrid!

Pay for your own prison cell! why not

Lee divided her time between NYC and her hometown (Monroeville, AL). As she got older she stayed in Alabama (she was in assisted living at the time of her death).

It’s not a studio - it’s a one bedroom, a decent size of a bit grim.

That place is a tiny hovel. In any other city it would be unacceptable for what it costs to rent.

I assume she had rent regulation - so it was probably cheap for her.

Why was a person of her stature still RENTING! Why didn't she own!

Oh Mary yourself R36

Or..

R42

Tudor City proves "micro apartments" are not something new in NYC. Many studio apartments are barely 400 square feet. But again large parts of Tudor City was designed and developed with "efficiency" or whatever apartments for single or working couples. Theory was many wouldn't spend much time at home, but either be at work, or out enjoying or otherwise doing things.

Layouts for some TC apartments are dreadful. Only bathroom often is off the bedroom (one bedroom apartments). So guests have to go through your bedroom to use the loo.

OTOH TC does offer some really nice larger units.

I've seen lots of small units listed in Tudor City and the majority evidence some thought in making a very small space a pleasant one. There are definitely compromises due to space and budget, but I don't recall any that were just fucking grim.

[quote]Those bars on windows are common for ground floor NYC apartments for ages. Many also have them if they face rear of building, especially if their windows open onto fire escape.

Of course, though being a common thing doesn't improve on their ugliness. I am didn't mean to suggest that they were unusual, only that in an apartment so bereft of any of redeeming feature they stand out all be the more.

R53

Think you're missing the point... Then and still now for many people just living in NYC, especially Manhattan is the goal. Over years I've seen apartments of friends and others equally small and grim in areas all over Manhattan; East Village, West Village, Chelsea, UWS, Mid-Town, Hell's Kitchen, etc....

For many just getting an apartment in Manhattan they can afford is first priority. Aesthetics can come later on as people do what they can to make space work.

Sometimes you simply have to do what you have to do...

NYC landlords typically want to see 40x rent to income ratio. Using that metric someone would have to earn about $124k per year to qualify for renting that hole in wall apartment.

Yes, folks, NYC real estate is just that insane.

R33

Don't know why but East 80th, 81st, 82nd, 83rd, and 84th from Third east are some of the most rat infested blocks. Corner of 80th and Third has huge ones running about, things are so bad Eli's now has huge bait stations in front of their store.

It isn't always a solid thing, but can vary by block. East 83rd between Third and Second is really, really, *really* bad. Huge rats running across street, in front of buildings.... This even as that new luxury high rise (200 East 83rd) is nearing completion. People paying tens of millions to live on that ratty block.

East 82nd between Second and First is another ratty block which is sad because there is an elementary school on that street.

One funny thing is you'll be sitting inside your apartment with windows open and suddenly hear a loud shriek or scream. Just some transplant (usually female) totally not used to NYC rats...

That TC penthouse sold back in 2019 for 1.95 million USD. Went back on market again in 2021 and went for less, $1.90 million USD, bit of a price chop.

"No government record" usually means property was purchased in an all cash deal. New York state charges a mortgage recording tax when properties are purchased in whole or part with debt. This leaves a paper trail in ACRIS ( Automated City Register Information System) and other sources.

If one is going to live in Tudor City, 5 Tudor City place is most highly coveted building.

It really sticks in my craw that a famous writer took a rent controlled apartment off the market for 40 years. A family could have lived in there.

R59

Harper Lee may have been famous, but she was hardly well off.

Furthermore at time Ms. Lee moved into both her NYC apartments it wasn't difficult to find a rent regulated unit. Ask anyone who hunted for apartments in 1960's, 1970's through really 1980's and bit of 1990's. Nearly everything was rent stabilized, you just had to find something could afford in an area you wanted to live.

No family was going to be living in that apartment, then or now. NY has laws about how many people can live in an apartment based upon square footage. A studio apartment is meant for one or two persons. You try to cram three, four or more persons in there and if city finds out they can issue violations to LL.

"Saved by 7 users...." on Streeteasy. WTF is wrong with people?

Open house is this Saturday, any DL member want to take one for the team and check place out?

It seems the photos say all, R61.

It's right or right enough for someone, I'm sure, but I wouldn't walk across the street to see the interior. It's too dreary and basic to give off any Eudora Welty vibes, even if one we're if the sort to receive such vibrations.

*were

Sad. Dreary.

Years ago I lived in one of those first floor apartments in the East 60s. Mine didn’t even look out on a “courtyard”. All three windows looked out to an aishaft. It was depressing, absolutely literally depressing. I never knew what the weather was, unless it was driving rain or snowing.

But the rent was $750/mo (in 1996).

The NYC place was just a pied-à-terre. For years before her death (which was several years ago), she lived in an Alabama nursing home.

Don't ask me how or why she kept the apartment all those years, but she hadn't even been there for quite awhile.

[quote] It really sticks in my craw that a famous writer took a rent controlled apartment off the market for 40 years.

I know, right?

That apartment is so small! But where did she fart?

Everything about this renovated apartment screams Home Depot or Lowes. Those doors, cabinets and other fixtures are almost standard for NYC apartments (new or renovated, rental, co-op or condo) at certain price points, along with even private homes.

While hood over range does provide light, it's hopeless for ventilation because doesn't lead to outdoor venting. Fridge is standard "apartment special" again seen in units all over city.

Probably kept there so she wouldn't tell anyone she didn't really write the book.

Plus the book wasn't really all that good anyway.

I would rather live in Alabama than pay over $3k per month for 600 square feet

"A family could have lived in there."

R59, what family could have lived in a 1-bedroom that's 600 square feet?

[quote] These studio or efficiency apartments (yes there is a difference)

What is the difference? I lived in an "efficiency" in Washington, DC, that seemed like a studio to me. I always thought it was just a regional difference in labels.

[quote] It really sticks in my craw that a famous writer took a rent controlled apartment off the market for 40 years. A family could have lived in there.

Who knows how much money she actually had. Famous doesn't always mean rich. The last eight years or so, it sounds like she didn't even live there (after her stroke, but she paid rent). The manager guy said he could have kicked her out at that point, but didn't have the heart to do it as they were friends.

So, the last 8 years or so was a waste. Someone else could definitely have lived there.

600 square feet is spacious, actually. I now live in a 500-square-foot studio, previously lived in a 625-square foot-1 BR. The 1 BR (625 square feet) actually felt large.

The ground floor aspect, I don't like. Her unit was 1-E, so I'm assuming that's ground floor (that plus the view from the windows).

I haven't read the entire thread but the idea that Harper Lee couldn't write is absurd and basic bitch sexist.

That apartment is the same box with a window that comprises most of New York apartments.

Truman Captote isn't god, he fucked up a dinner party which led to his downfall, ffs.

When will the inevitable real estate crash happen? It won't affect New York because of money laundering, but it's got to hit the rest of the country at some point. It's ridiculous.

R34 You wrote:

[quote] world. She finally wrote a second novel, “Go Set a Watchman,” in 2015. It was not well received [quote]

You did not say published. You said wrote. You said she wrote it in 2015. You are wrong. And a misogynist.

"Who knows how much money she actually had. Famous doesn't always mean rich."

R75, it was actually common knowledge. "To Kill A Mockingbird" sold hundreds of thousands of copies per year, every year, for decades, and still does. She was a multimillionaire.

CelebrityNetWorth.com (yes, yes) thought she was doing well enough.

[quote]According to legal papers filed as part of a lawsuit against Harper's former book agent, it was revealed that the Harper Lee earns approximately $3.2 million per year in royalties from her book. Roughly $9,2000 per day. All from something she wrote more than 50 years ago!

rich bitch

R3 Maybe they can use AI to determine the similarities between Capote’s writing style and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

No way does she earn $3.2M a year in royalties. Not that many books are sold and the movie rarely airs. Something doesn’t make sense.

A Fortune article of 2016 claimed the book 750,000 copies the previous year.

"Not that many books are sold"

Wrong, R83. As has been pointed out.

It’s a fucking American classic. You can’t deny this.

Of course it may be cancellable now, or displaced because it was written by a white woman.

It won't be on both counts.

I'd say that apartment is a palace compared to a lot of the dumps people in NY are willing to pay high rents for. At least it HAS a kitchen. At least it HAS a bathroom.

As for Harper Lee, well, I never was a fan of hers. "To Kill A Mockingbird" is one of the most overrated novels of all time, if not THE most overrated. I read it and thought "what the fuck is the big deal about this?"

I'm surprised Harper Lee hasn't been more talked about on Datalounge. She was VERY strange. Supposedly she was a lesbian, but there's no proof to confirm that and there's no evidence of any lesbian love affairs. Truman Capote wondered why the hell she lived in New York since she "never went out." Her closest relationship seems to have been with her sister. All in all she seemed like a very boring, dull person.

Looking at Harper Lee, you definitely would've thought "bread pudding and nutloaf."

Caneface.

But maybe she was one of those celibate ones.

In the movies about Truman Capote she' s always depicted as the sane, normal one. But I think she was a pretty strange duck.

For less, same or slightly more there are options to that dark, dull and dreary former apartment of Harper Lee in Yorkville.

Look around, you'll see why people consider Yorkville affordable. Well for Manhattan anyway...

And cheap to buy. If you had $60K for down payment, the momthly mortgage cost would be about about $2200. It's a studio, but pleasant (you could screen off the kitchen or the refrigerator at least), and it has light and a view, even.