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NYC's Incredible Cliffside 'Pumpkin House' Is For Sale
By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 15, 2016
Modified Aug 15, 2016
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Aug 15, 2016
Modified Aug 15, 2016
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Located at 16 Chittenden Avenue in Manhattan's Hudson Heights neighborhood is a home that's been dubbed "The Pumpkin House." The property extends out over a cliff just north of the George Washington Bridge, and some observers on the other side of the Hudson River see a jack-o-lantern face at night when the lights are on. At certain hours the sun also casts an orange glow on the facade.
The 3-story, free-standing home recently went on the market for $5.25 million, which is up a few million since it last sold sometime around 2011. The owner at that time was William Spink, who the NY Times profiled in 2008—at the time he was living in the upper two floors, and rented out the lower floor as an apartment. He didn't particularly think the home looked like a pumpkin under normal circumstances, however, telling them: “I guess if you’ve had enough Quaaludes, it might look like a pumpkin.”
The listing notes that the 3,144-square-foot cliffside home is still a two-family building, with a separate one-bedroom rental unit.
The home was built around 1925, and the WSJ noted in 2010 that at the time it had only ever had four owners. "The house was built in the 1920s on a steel foundation sunk into a steep cliff at West 186th Street... It was commissioned by Cleveland Walcutt, an engineer, on land purchased from the estate of James Gordon Bennett, the publisher of the New York Herald." (Walcutt foreclosed on the house in 1927.)
In those early days, the home looked even more dramatic given the lack of development in the area at the time.
(Photos courtesy of the NYPL)
In the late 1930s, however, Castle Village was built up around the home.
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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