Kips Bay: Same House, Different Times
In 1989 a five-story town house on Manhattan's Upper East Side was put up for sale for $11 million. That same year the premises played host to the country's most prestigious decorator show house, benefiting the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club.</br></br>Two years later the town house at 121 E. 73rd St. is still for sale, the asking price having been reduced to $6 million. That says a lot about the state of the real estate market. It also says something about the Kips Bay Show House, which is once again ensconced in the neo-Federal residence built in 1908 for lawyer Alfred Jaretzki, his wife, Tillie, and three children.</br></br>The organizers decided to reprise the show in the empty mansion because it was difficult to another suitable one in the desired locale, according to Diantha Nype, show house publicist for 17 years. The committee, which sank $57,000 into rewiring and fixing the walls in preparation for the first show, was happily spared further refurbishing costs. So were the designers, who benefited from replastering and other repairs made by their colleagues in 1989. Typically, designers have to pony up $5,000 to $50,000 per room for painting and other non-recuperable decorating expenses.</br></br>Competition among designers this year was as intense as always, according toNype. The 14 tapped by the selection committee were chosen from 83 top New York designers who were asked to apply (designers can participate once every three years). The show house, which earned about $900,000 last year, is the primary source of funding for the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club in the Bronx.</br></br>In the old money stratosphere in which they operate, most of the Kips Bay designers interviewed at the house declared their businesses recession proof. "We lost all the Wall Street clients," said Tom Ring, an associate of Billy Francis, whose "subdued, soft, soothing silver and ecru" contemporary Kips Bay bedroom (Ring's description) would set one back about $600,000 to $700,000. "The middle money has stopped, but there is still the higher end," he added.