Celebrity Homes

Baz Luhrmann slashes price on Manhattan townhouse by $9.1M

If Baz Luhrmann’s life were a movie, this five-story Gramercy Park townhouse would be the set. But after three years and multiple price drops, the Moulin Rouge! and Great Gatsby director is hoping a AUD 9 million discount will finally cue the right buyer. Now asking AUD 21 million, the moody Manhattan mansion is back on the market—and it's as dramatic as the films that made him famous.

Australian film director Baz Luhrmann has relisted his Gramercy Park townhouse in Manhattan for USD $13.99 million (approx. AUD $21.1 million), marking a total price cut of USD $6 million (approx. AUD $9.1 million) from its original listing price three years ago.

The five-story, 8,500-square-foot (approx. 790 sqm) residence at 243 East 17th Street first hit the market in March 2022 for USD $19.99 million (approx. AUD $30.2 million).

Since then, the NY Post reported it has cycled through multiple price reductions, with the latest relisting representing its lowest asking price to date.

Luhrmann, known for directing visually stylised films such as Moulin Rouge!, The Great Gatsby, and Elvis, purchased the Anglo-Italianate home in 2017 for USD $13.5 million.

The once-black kitchen was lightened to grey. Image: Sothebys

He and his wife, Oscar-winning production designer Catherine Martin, spent several years renovating the property before initially putting it up for sale.

The historic 1850s-era townhouse occupies a rare 28-foot-wide lot overlooking Stuyvesant Square Park.

It features a gated entry, landscaped garden, 16-foot ceilings on the parlor floor, and full-length arched windows.

Interior highlights include a Clive Christian-designed kitchen with Viking and Sub-Zero appliances, multiple fireplaces, and a screening room on the English basement level.

In a bid to appeal to a wider range of buyers, the home has been restyled with lighter furniture and cabinetry to offset Luhrmann’s dramatic design aesthetic.

In an apparent bid to broaden its appeal to the buyer pool, the residence was staged with lighter furniture and cabinetry. Image: Sothebys

The property is currently listed with Sotheby’s International Realty.

Luhrmann and Martin have spent less time in New York in recent years, reportedly splitting time between their native Australia and other global destinations.

The couple, who have two children, married in 1997 and continue to collaborate professionally.

Despite extensive marketing and high-end staging, the property has not yet sold after three years on and off the market.

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Catherine Nikas-Boulos

Catherine Nikas-Boulos is the Digital Editor at Elite Agent and has spent the last 20 years covering (and coveting) real estate around the country.