155 W 12TH Street, New York City, NY 10011

A 21-foot-wide Greenwich Village townhouse built in 1841 – with original wide-plank floors, marble mantels, six bedrooms, six full baths, a floor-to-ceiling library, and a garden that alone would justify the address.

Between 2020 and 2025, the house received a comprehensive renovation under the design direction of Emily Frantz and Michael Bargo: new systems throughout, a lower-level wellness suite, fully renovated bathrooms, custom millwork, and a whole-home audio-visual installation – all carried out with full DOB permits and Landmarks Preservation Commission approval.

The parlor floor is the entertaining level: living room and dining room run front to back, each anchored by its own marble fireplace and lined floor to ceiling with built-in bookshelves. The kitchen sits in a rear extension and looks down over the garden – twenty feet wide, forty-eight feet deep, shaded by mature trees, climbed by ivy that reaches the full height of the rear facade. Custom cabinetry by Emily Frantz, a Waterworks faucet, Farrow & Ball paint throughout, and Lutron lighting controls bring the interiors quietly up to date. The garden itself is professionally designed and maintained on an ongoing seasonal basis by Tend NYC, with arborist care by Bartlett Tree Experts. For the Village, it is an extraordinary private outdoor space.

The primary suite claims most of the top floor: exposed brick, a fireplace, a dressing area, a California Closets walk-in system, and a full en-suite bath redesigned by Michael Bargo – absolute-black stone countertops, gloss tile walls and ceiling, a black limestone floor, brushed-brass fixtures, and a custom brass shower door and screen. A second bedroom on the same level has its own fireplace, bath, and closets. The third floor holds two more bedrooms, each with a fireplace, bath, and closet, alongside a study and laundry. One of these bedrooms opens directly onto a private roof terrace overlooking the garden – a rarity in a house of this age and provenance.

At garden level, a home office in the rear extension offers a quiet start to the day. Two additional bedrooms with walk-in closets sit beyond it toward the front of the house. A new entertainment room with custom full-height cabinetry, hardwood floors, recessed LED lighting, and integrated speaker wiring adjoins an ensuite exercise room with mirrored walls. Beyond it, the wellness suite: an infrared sauna, a two-person cold plunge on a custom CNC-shaped cedar base, and a full wet room – designed by Michael Bargo and executed to his specification with floor-to-ceiling tile, full waterproofing, cedar millwork, and dedicated circuits throughout.

The house is further equipped with a 200-amp electrical service, a new ductless mini-split HVAC system, a whole-home leak-detection and automatic water shut-off system, a monitored security and fire-alarm system, a 4K home theater with motorized screen and Crestron control, and multi-room Sonos audio. Below grade, two rooms of cellar storage.