Real Estate

Live in Norman Mailer's Former Heights Aerie With Bookcases, Terraces, Views for $8,500 a Month

This singular penthouse with sweeping views of New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty at one time served as Norman Mailer’s writing studio where he wrote “The Executioner’s Song.”

norman mailer apartment brooklyn heights interior 142 columbia heights unit 4

by Cate Corcoran

09/01/2022 3 minute 0

This singular penthouse with sweeping views of New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty at one time served as Norman Mailer’s writing studio, where he wrote “The Executioner’s Song,” back when he owned the entire Greek Revival house at 142 Columbia Heights. When he took the circa 1840s Brooklyn Heights brick house co-op in 1977, the top floor became his apartment.

Mailer’s family sold the unit in 2018 for $2 million and now, after a renovation that streamlined and updated the interior while keeping the soul of the apartment intact, it’s available to rent.

Notable features in the two-bedroom, one-bathroom unit include a living room with views, terrace, bookshelves dating from Mailer’s residency, and a bowed teak ceiling the New York Times compared to a ship’s hull. An air conditioned crow’s nest-like section over the kitchen and dining area with a soaring glassy ceiling is ringed with catwalks, and a ladder leads to a loft and two more terraces on the roof.

With four stories over a basement and cellar, the building has five floor-through units, according to both the 2018 certificate of occupancy and the now obsolete 1962 one. If so, the one on the garden floor has never sold, and in any case, this fourth-floor penthouse has mezzanine and rooftop levels as well as a single room with bathroom and laundry on the third floor.

That studio can be included with the rental, according to the listing, which says “please inquire further.” (A floor plan from an old listing shows the setup.)

Currently occupied, the apartment is available October 15. Listed by Douglas Elliman agents Noble Black, Corinne Cahlon and David Son, it’s priced at $8,500 a month. What do you think?

[Listing: 142 Columbia Heights #4 | Broker: Douglas Elliman] GMAP