NYC studio owned by Warhol and where Basquiat died is available to rent for $60,000 a month
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The Manhattan property once owned by Andy Warhol and in which Jean-Michel Basquiat lived, worked, and died is now available for rent.
Basquiat occupied the second floor of 57 Great Jones Street from 1983 until his death five years later in 1988, a year after his mentor and property owner Warhol died in 1987.
The space served as Basquiat’s main studio and some of his most important paintings were created here.
The historic building on Great Jones Street, between Lafayette and Bowery, can be rented for a minimum of 10 years for $60,000 per month.
The second floor of the two-story NoHo building has an “open loft space with high ceilings and multiple skylights,” says Meridian Capital Group, which lists the property.
Prior to being owned by Warhol, the property served as the headquarters of notorious criminal Paul Kelly’s Five Points Gang.
In the building, Kelly – who was labeled by the New York Times in 1912 as “perhaps the most successful and most influential mobster in New York history” – would meet with influential politicians.
In 1904, a fatal shooting took place in the ‘salon’ on the first floor of the building.
The property was most recently housed in a referral-only Japanese restaurant called Bohemian and, according to the new listing, “a fully equipped restaurant room with ventilation and gas” has been installed.
The listing also shows images of the inside of the historic building, which, despite being a commercial space, is outfitted with luxurious furnishings.
The two-story building on Great Jones Street in Noho was where Jean-Michel Basquiat once worked and lived and before that was a meeting point of the Five Points Gang
The business premises are now equipped with luxurious furniture including a bar
The accommodation features polished concrete floors and exposed brick walls. An arch that used to connect the space to the neighboring building has been filled with breeze blocks
“The second floor consists of open loft space with high ceilings and multiple skylights,” the listing reads
Basquiat remained in the building until after Warhol’s sudden death in 1987, when he became convinced that Warhol’s estate intended to evict him.
A title deed for 57 Great Jones Street signed by Andy Warhol
Just a year later, in August 1988, Basquiat died of a heroin overdose in the building at just 27 years old.
In 2016, Village Preservation, an architectural preservation association, placed a plaque on the building commemorating the artist, which read: “Basquiat’s paintings and other work challenged established notions of high and low art, race and class, while representing a visionary forging language that defied characterization. ‘
The exterior of the building is often covered in graffiti – the medium that first made Basquiat famous.
According to New York City ownership records, the building was sold by Andy Warhol Associates in the late 1980s.
However, New York Supreme Court records show that the sale sparked a legal dispute between 57 Great Jones Street Associates and Andy Warhol Enterprises, Inc regarding the separation of 57 Great Jones Street and nearby 342 Bowery, connected and also famous Warhol property.
Jean-Michel Basquiat (left) moved into the second floor of 57 Great Jones Street in 1983, shortly after meeting Andy Warhol (right). The two are pictured here at an event in New York City in 1984
The space is equipped with a commercial kitchen and, according to Meridian Capital Group, equipped with ventilation and gas
The second floor loft in the building is where Basquiat worked, lived and eventually died at just 27 years old
The exterior of the building is often covered in graffiti – the medium that first made Basquiat famous
According to New York City ownership records, the building was sold by Andy Warhol Associates in the late 1980s
In 2016, Village Preservation, an architectural conservation association, placed a plaque on the building commemorating Basquiat
In the early 1900s, the building housed the “New Brighton Athletic Club,” which served as the headquarters of Paul Kelly’s infamous Five Points Gang – one of the most dominant street gangs in New York City history and of which Lucky Luciano and Al Capone both were. members.
Born Paolo Antonio Vaccarelli in the Bowery in 1876, Paul Kelly changed his name to associate with New York’s politically powerful and influential politicians at the time.
Although he began his career as a boxer in the late 19th century, Kelly’s attention soon turned to prostitution and the trade in highly lucrative brothels.
After a spell in prison, he founded the Paul Kelly Association, headquartered on Great Jones Street. He used the building to house a two-story cafe and dance hall where he would drink and dine New York’s political elite.
A November 24, 1905, New York Times article described the fatal shooting of a mobster W. E. Harrington at the Kelly “saloon” the day before.
“The murder early yesterday morning in the fight at Paul A. Kelly’s saloon, 57 Great Jones Street, was committed in a nest of beaters, a police investigation concludes,” the article begins.
The news report notes that Paul Kelly went missing from the property after the shooting. It was later speculated that “Paul A. Kelly”, the owner of the place, has been missing since the fight.
“The police have his hat with a bullet hole through the crown, and they believe he was hit in the fusillade that killed Harrington, and is being hidden by his friends until he can recover from his injuries.”