29 Vandam Street, Manhattan, NY 10014

A distinguished member of the original set of Federal-style houses making up the Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District, 29 Vandam Street dates back to the neighborhood's original residential development in the 1820s. Noted by Landmarks Preservation as containing the premier example in New York City of "continuity of period and...excellent state of preservation" these houses are a rare opportunity to own a piece of New York City, and, in fact, American history. This is clear in 29 Vandam Street, both in its exterior (Landmarks notes the pitched roof and dormers, the "delicately-contrived" doorway, and its iron work) and in the careful attention to its interiors. Indeed, the house is a journey across its two-century history as interpreted through a minimal, delicate, and spare lens. Each detail is a triumph: the cornices and crown moldings, the exposed wood beams, the careful etchings in doorways, the marble mantels, and the decorative paneling. Then there is the 55-foot deep back...