Ivana Trump, the incoming dictator’s first ex-wife, passed away in the summer of 2022 after falling down the stairs of her six-story NYC townhouse. The cause of death was classified as blunt force trauma resulting from an accident and the whole incident was perfectly legitimate and not sus in any way (despite there being an elevator in the home). Anyway, the home went on the market shortly thereafter in November 2022 for $26.5 million, roughly $3,000/square feet for the residence that’s just under 9,000 square feet total, including some outdoor space. Shockingly, there were no buyers. So a year later they dropped the price for a month, before taking it off the market entirely for a wee spell. It went back up in June of this year, this time at $19.5 mill. And still no takers! Mayhaps it has to do with the objectively tacky interior design that Ivana personally oversaw (in the 90s) that comes with the property?
The late Ivana Trump’s New York City townhouse is still on the market more than two years after her death.
The property was first listed in November 2022, four months after the businesswoman died at age 73 after falling down a flight of stairs in the home on July 14.
It was initially asking $26.5 million. After almost a year on the market, the price was slashed to $22.5 million in September 2023. A month later, the listing was taken off the market and then relisted for a lower price in June 2024 for $19.5 million.
Ivana, who was married to Donald Trump from 1977 to 1990s, moved into the townhome shortly after their split. Very little has changed since she renovated the property in the ‘90s.
Following Ivana’s death, it was revealed by the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office that she had suffered blunt force injuries to her torso as a result of the fall. Officials pronounced her dead on the scene and ruled the incident as an accident.
The home, located in Manhattan’s Lenox Hill neighborhood, is jointly listed by J. Roger Erickson of Douglas Elliman and Adam D. Modlin of Modlin Group.
The townhouse spans six stories and features five bedrooms and five full bathrooms. Lavish finishings include a crystal chandelier, silk wallpaper and a gold-embossed fireplace in the second-floor living room.
A gated elevator and a central, curved staircase connect each floor. The Versailles-inspired dining room’s vast windows overlook the private interior courtyard.
An expansive primary suite occupies the entire third floor. From the bedroom, three French doors lead to the private outdoor terrace. The ensuite bathroom boasts pink onyx marble and includes a double sink and a large soaking tub.
Across the bedroom is an office adorned with leopard print furniture and an onyx fireplace with gold detailing. Adjacent to the office is a walk-in closet.
On the remaining floors, guest rooms overlook the stately homes on 64th Street. The impressive space also boasts a media room and a sauna.
Ok, so whose bright idea was it to sell the place fully furnished? I’m no realtor, but I have been watching HGTV for well over 10 years. Plus, I have EYES. No one wants that townhouse as-is. No one is going to walk in there and think, “Oh thank heavens they kept it intact. I’ll take it all!” What people are seeing when they look at the listing is all the millions on top of the initial price tag that will have to be spent on extensive renovations. And look, I freely admit that like the inimitable Iris Apfel before me, I’m a more is more girl. I like bright colors, mixing patterns, and I cannot honestly say that I wouldn’t decorate a room entirely in leopard. But the thing about going over-the-top is, the pieces you’re working with still have to be tasteful. So… yeah. But bless J. Roger Erickson’s heart for trying, like in this video tour where he claims that pink onyx is back in for bathrooms. Honestly, though? I love this for Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric, to whom the proceeds will go. You know, in the increasingly unlikely event someone actually ends up making an offer.
I don’t totally hate it. It’s completely over the top in a “more is more” way. Reminds me of Joan Rivers’ apartment.
There are still plenty of people that have this over the top style. I don’t but I’m plain.
I’d keep the leopard room. The rest is just bad, even for the ’90s! Money can’t buy good taste.
IDK. The decor screams upper east side nouveau riche. There’s gotta be a Russian oligarch salivating to get at it. They’re probably just waiting till after the coronatio…inauguration
I wasnt shocked. It looks like an old ladies house. I was shocked how utterly dark the place is with windows only in front and back because it’s a townhouse.
Actually I’ve always wondered about townhouses in that price range. I’d so much rather have a penthouse and feel like I’m on top of the world. I guess some people would rather not have to deal with HOAs.
@Mightymolly: or at least a townhouse on the end, so you’d have more windows.
Typical gaudy Trump style. Total gut and refurbish job.
Given that the Trumps business is real estate, they should have , at the bare minimum,removed the furniture and painted wall beige or white.
That would cost them money. I assumet they were hoping some MAGA Oligarch would buy it. Just to buy access to the next adminstration. Which is why they have wildly overpriced it. And had to knock a few millions off the top to get some interest in it. Greedy ghouls they are.
I find it interesting that there’s nothing, absolutely nothing, that any of her three kids wanted from the house. No sentimental anything.
An “office adorned with leopard print furniture and an onyx fireplace with gold detailing.”
Liberace would think that’s too much.
It’s…a LOT. I guess you might was well try to sell it as-is. Whoever buys it will have to rip out all of the fixtures & take down a ton of wallpaper. The chandeliers must be worth something? They’re still asking quite a bit for a property a Trump died in.
Oh, I bet some have made offers. Really low offers. It’s going to take a lot of $$ to renovate and no telling what plumbing and electrical upgrades it may need if it hasn’t been touched since the 90’s. The Trump brothers don’t have the cash to dump into this and likely don’t want to even if they did, plus, they have pissed off every contractor in NYC so good luck getting someone to do the work that is reputable (not that they care about reputations). Ivanka will just wait for her check. She has plenty of $$.
So the T bros will just have to wait.
And yes, Ivana’s death was totally sus.
My number one suspect in Ivana’s death is Ivanka
ooh @lightpurple what is your theory?
I do not believe for a minute that Dumb and Dumber Trump didn’t fill their pockets to the brim in the first round. I guess they only engaged in domestic corruption and embezzlement and refrained from treason, like Ivanka, so they don’t have to hide.
Was she going for a turn of the 19th-20th century opera house vibe? Or high end belle epoque brothel?
Honestly, I see the same red and green color scheme as in Home Alone – very popular in the 80-90’s. The leopard/gold/Versailles inspiration though I put down to her eastern European roots along with her first husband’s massively bad taste – he probably paid for the redo.
Also…she DIED there? So it’s like a preserved death scene without any of the decor being changed.
Think Ed they replaced the carpet or stairs where it happened or simply vacuumed and mopped.
It’s probably the latter. They had their own mother/mother of his kids buried in a golf course for a tax break. There is no lowest point for these people.
Kinda like Glensheen in Duluth. Yeah, that’s the murder scene right there, the docents don’t bring it up though.
@AMB holy shit I was just thinking about that mansion and kept meaning to look it up — went to Duluth yearly as a kid and was always spellbound driving past that place. I haven’t been there in almost fifteen years but something made me remember it recently.
I mean, maybe nobody is buying it because an “accident” took place there and it has bad vibes The house across the street from mine sat vacant for years after a targeted unaliving happened there.
Unaliving is perfect real estate double speak. Thanks!
That term is what the young folks on Tik Tok use.
They use terms like that bc using the real ones (murder, suicide, rape, etc) can get them shadow banned and limit their reach.
Young folks on Tik Toks, hehehe. Good one. Now I know I’m old, when that’s just funny.
Allow me to tell you I don’t have kids without telling you. And I don’t use TikTok. Aging isn’t for the weak.
There are some good features there. The mouldings, built ins, fireplaces and whatnot. But the decor needs to GO. That red hall/stairway! What a jump scare.
That pink bathroom with gold fixtures kills me!
That was the only photo I liked. But I am a Flamingo, so I am bias to pink 🙂
I agree, the bones of the house are great, and the location is really good. And it’s sort of in the middle of the range of similar properties in that neighborhood.
I’m guessing it’s a mix of the decor (a lot of people can’t see past decor, and that is some gaudy, over the top, rich old lady nonsense in there), the association with the trump, and her dying there. No one wants to be haunted by Ivana!
Sooner or later someone with deep pockets to renovate will grab it.
The apartment has a lot of potential but anybody buying it would want to gut renovate it and I suspect the high selling price is a real turn off. They should try to sell it unfurnished.
The buyer would have to pay to gut & renovate, not to mention updating the ’90s appliances and dealing with the angry ghost of Ivana. No thanks!
I actually quite love the office. I’d like a fireplace in my bedroom too. I wonder how low an offer they’d consider…
I saw the pic of the round table with the big display of lemons and was shocked at there being such a small room, nope, just the window space on the actual dining room. It’s another world.
I have thoughts.
1. Decor by Cora Mandell (Dominick Dunne)
2. Mrs. Manson Mingott would feel right at home (Edith Wharton)
3. I wonder what the window:wall ratio is? At some point the energy efficiency of fewer windows has to be offset by the need for artificial light all the time, not to mention how freaking depressing it must be.
Garish, tacky, gaudy, it makes my eyes hurt.
Maybe they thought one of their rich MAGA Mar-a-Lago friends would snap it up, or indeed a Russian/Middle Eastern oligarch. I had assumed one of her kids would inherit it and possibly rent it out.
My guess is they inherited it & promptly put in on the market. Soulless, everyone of them.
Looking at the decor, the word oppressive comes to mind.
Maybe someone should remove the clearly haunted doll from the library.
When the doll starts speaking in Nadja’s voice, RUN!
The first thing I think when the inside of a home hasn’t been updated is, how old is the roof, HVAC, water heater, plumbing, electric. Because if they didn’t bother to change the wallpaper or get a new fridge, you know the roof is original. And those things cause major damage and expense.
id be afraid someone would forget they already had the resident of that house killed and order another hit
that actually happened on law and order once, son of previous resident came to kill his parents and ended up killing whoever was living there now
Faux Fountainbleu is not my favorite style. The woman had her heyday in the 1980s and it shows. Poor thing. I still can’t believe her kids let her be buried in a gold course.
There are 2 tiny kitchens, smaller than the lemon dinette.
https://jrogererickson.elliman.com/sales/detail/527-l-551-17_22147431/10-e-64th-st-townhouse-lenox-hill-new-york-ny-10065# Look at the floor plan.
I always wondered why you want a workout room on the top floor. Just walking up 5 flights of stairs to get to the room is enough of a workout for me.
I was surprised by so many shots of the staircase. I get it, that it is a significant feature in the home but given the circumstances, I would have de-emphasized that feature.
RIIIGHT? I was thinking the same while watching the video. Like, see?? we cleaned up!!
Okay, you know what, I recognize that the leopard print room is totally ridiculous and over the top, but I do actually LIKE it. Also the pink bathroom.
Everything else is mostly in the realm of vaguely tacky, too generic to hit the point of being so absurd it becomes awesome.
Ok in my opinion there are a couple issues.
People don’t live like this anymore so lots will be needed to be ripped out and updated. You can’t get to the garden except by the basement kitchen so not really an easy use. Plus no one is going to stand for not having a big kitchen at that price point- so that is a gut job – either you gut the basement one and the office or you gut the 1st floor one and the breakfast nook- either way it’s still going to be a galley kitchen cause the only source of light are back and front windows and you are going to want full walls of windows. 20 feet sounds pretty wide until you are blocking light with cabinets.
Plus the entry is pretty dark and it just sets the tone for the rest of the house. It isn’t a grand high ceiling on the entrance floor which makes the house seem squat on entrance. Maybe with lighter colors that would help. I would be interested in seeing if the media room and the back office/kitchen could be renovated into a huge kitchen living/dining without losing light.
They keep remarking how she renovated it 30 years ago- if that is the last time she updated- what else did she skip? Does it need a new roof? Is the plumbing up to code?
Location is great though and the house deserves better
Once Trump is installed as president, someone will buy it at above asking price – it’s called a bribe. (see the old Trump Hotel – DC)
I doubt the buyer will actually move into it.
I’m surprised no one has already done this.
It’s giving Marie Antoinette is back from the great beyond and has married a Russian oligarch…