New York magazine's "The 72-Room Bohemian Dream House" unveils what is perhaps "the greatest real-estate coup of all time": 190 Bowery Street. In 1966, thanks to much pressure from his real estate agent, photographer Jay Maisel scrounged up enough money, $102,000 to be exact, to purchase the abandoned 1898 Germania Bank building in Manhattan's Bowery district, which then was largely middle-class and German and by no means a "hot" neighborhood. 42 years, Meisel still lives there with his wife, Linda, and daughter, Amanda. The six-story building, which measures around 35,000 square feet, is now valued upward of $30 million. The first three floors are used as gallery spaces. Although Maisel hasn't let a broker set foot in the building, one agent said, "I would do anything to get that building." The building has undergone no major changes to its interior, and maintains many of its original features including the safe-deposit vault, an ornate copper elevator cage, a verdigris-coated copper roof trim, tin ceiling and wall tiles, and the bank's original kitchen, which was once used by staff who cooked for the bankers. Talk about a good investment! Check out the article for more details and a slideshow of the space.
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