Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
15 Years Ago, A Doctor Blew Up His Upper East Side Townhouse
By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 18, 2021
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Justin Lane/EPA/Shutterstock
By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 18, 2021
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
On July 10th, 2006, a four-story townhouse at 34 East 62nd Street collapsed after an explosion. It turned out the owner, Dr. Nicholas Bartha, had tampered with the gas line in order to blow up his home and kill himself in the process to avoid selling the landmarked house and giving his estranged wife half the proceeds.
Now, 15 years later, the townhouse that replaced the 1882 "Neo-Grecian gem" has been sold. It was listed at $19.75 million, significantly lower than its original 2017 asking price of $32.5 million (!!).
At the time, Bartha had been embroiled in a contentious divorce proceeding for years. In a New York magazine feature, which detailed Bartha's difficult upbringing in Romania amid the Iron Guard, his divorce lawyer explained, "That house to Dr. Bartha was the incarnation of the American Dream. It validated all the work he had done, how far he had come from his childhood. It was all he cared about. That house was his mistress."
While a referee in their divorce proceeding determined Bartha should pay his wife $1.23 million, they did not list the house—which Bartha had bought with his late mother in 1980 for $395,000—as a marital asset. Bartha decided to appeal that divorce decision, which did not work out how as he hoped.
"Early in 2005, the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court held that the town house was marital property. It was an unusual decision that the New York Law Journal noted on its front page, partly because the appellate court determined that the home was community property 'regardless of the form in which the title is held,'" the NY Times reported.
Firefighters at 34 East 62nd Street, which was destroyed in an explosion on July 10, 2006
Andrew Gombert/EPA/Shutterstock
That decision sent Bartha into a tailspin, reportedly attempting suicide numerous times before the July 10th, 2006 explosion. He had been served eviction papers on July 7th, 2006, and on July 10th, he sent his wife a rambling email—"When you read this lines your life will change forever. You deserve it. You will be transformed from gold digger to ash and rubbish digger"—before causing the blast.
The incident was so alarming that the White House issued a statement saying that it was not related to terrorism.
The empty lot at 34 East 62nd Street on July 28. 2006, a few weeks after the explosion.
Jen Chung / Gothamist
Four people were injured by debris from the explosion. Bartha, 66, was found in the rubble in the basement, unconscious and covered in burns. He was taken to Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he died days later.
34 East 62nd Street in 2019
Google Maps
Developer Janna Bullock bought the property for $8.3 million in 2007 and first proposed building a modernist townhouse, in hopes of flipping it for $20-30 million. However, Bullock ended up selling the lot to Woodbine & Co. four years later for $11.9 million.
Woodbine built a much more traditional townhouse, which was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Partner Ted Muftic told the Wall Street Journal, "Obviously, it was a tragic incident and a dramatic incident for the neighborhood. Because of that, we wanted to build something that would draw a bright line under the events of that day and mark the next chapter in the history of that block."
The 9,200-square-foot mansion's listing shows it staged with furniture and fixtures, but it's actually being sold as a raw space.
Tagged
townhouse
real estate
Nicholas Bartha
upper east side
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .