The stately brick-and-limestone apartment house at 101 Central Park West has been home to many high-profile residents over the years, including the actors Harrison Ford and Rick Moranis and the equestrian Georgina Bloomberg.
Some of the residents have stayed for decades. Irwin Segelstein, a TV network executive who also oversaw Columbia Records just as Bruce Springsteen’s career was taking off, moved into one of the co-op’s duplexes in 1976 and lived there with his wife, Bernice, until his death in 2008. The unit remained her home until she died last year.
Now, for the first time in nearly half a century, that apartment will be coming to market. The asking price is $8.75 million, with $9,246 in monthly maintenance, according to Roberta Golubock of Sotheby’s International Realty, which is listing the property.
The Segelsteins bought the duplex, which sits on the 16th and 17th floors of the 18-story prewar building, between West 70th and 71st Streets, in October 1976 for $115,000. (The sellers were the family of Meyer Davis, a prominent society band leader.) They settled in about a year later, after spending several thousand dollars more on much-needed renovations.
“They had to completely redo the apartment,” said their son, James Segelstein, a retired TV journalist and documentary film producer living in Ridgefield, Conn. “There were so many quirky things. The staircase had an amazing jungle wallpaper with birds and trees. And there were strange chandeliers with fruit, and these wrought-iron gates.”
His parents toned down the décor, opting for a more monochrome midcentury aesthetic. They redid the bathrooms and enlarged and upgraded the kitchen by removing one of the two staff rooms. But since then, little else had been done to the unit, other than some painting and general upkeep.
“It’s in estate condition,” Ms. Golubock said, adding that the new owners will be “buying scale and light and such a good building and fabulous location,” in the Central Park West Historic District.
Mr. Segelstein noted, too, that “the rooms are huge and airy and light, and I think larger than the rooms in a lot of other buildings.”
Encompassing around 3,825 square feet, the apartment has three sizable bedrooms and a staff room, along with four full bathrooms and a powder room. Ceilings are 10 feet or higher, and the original hardwood floors remain intact. There’s also 125 square feet of exterior space that includes two terraces — off the living and dining rooms — with park and city views.
The main entrance is on the lower level. A spacious gallery, with a powder room and service entry to the kitchen and staff quarters, leads to a large dining room and an even larger living room anchored by a wood-burning fireplace.
Near the dining room, an eat-in kitchen, albeit dated, is equipped with wood and laminate cabinets, laminate countertops and vinyl floors.
“My parents spent time in the kitchen hanging around the table, where they would plunk down and read the newspaper,” Mr. Segelstein said. “They also loved being in the living room.”
Upstairs are the bedrooms, each with an en suite bathroom. The primary suite has a roomy sitting area, formerly a dressing room. An adjacent bedroom was converted to an office.
“My father had built wall drawers to fit LPs,” Mr. Segelstein said of the office space. “He also had audio and video equipment there.”
Irwin Segelstein served in top roles at CBS and NBC. But it was his time running CBS Records, which included the Columbia Records label, that was perhaps most memorable. During his tenure, the label released Springsteen’s third studio album, “Born to Run,” which became a huge commercial hit.
But it might not have played out that way had it not been for James Segelstein, then a student at Brown University. In April 1974, he saw a Springsteen show on campus and described it to his father, reportedly unenthused about “Born to Run,” as “the greatest concert I had ever seen.” He also read him parts of a Springsteen interview with the school newspaper, in which the singer complained about how the record company was treating him and his music. The album was ultimately released — and promoted — the next year.
Columbia Records had also signed other big-name performers, like Bob Dylan and Billy Joel. But Mr. Segelstein said it was unlikely any of them ever showed up at the apartment.
“There weren’t celebrities wandering around,” he said. “My parents hosted holiday meals, but they didn’t have a lot of parties there.”
