For the first time in 53 years, the townhouse at 313 E. Sixth St. has hit the market — and it’s asking $3.65 million, the Post has learned.
Originally built as a single-family home and later converted into a three-unit building, the first notable resident was the late abstract painter Mark Rothko.
Rothko was known for his work in color field painting. Today, his art regularly sells for several million dollars.
In 2014, Christie’s sold his painting “No. 6 (Purple, Green and Red)” for $186 million, according to World Art News, making it the fifth most expensive painting in history.
In July 1932, Rothko met his wife, Edith Sachar, and together they moved across town, including an apartment in this building.
Rothko’s famous painting “Through the Window” was inspired by his time in the house. This address, along with Rothko’s signature, is inscribed on the back of the work.
In 2012 the building and its neighboring Greek Revival-style rowhouses were designated as part of the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District.
In 1970, the property was purchased by Emil D’Antonio and his wife. D’Antonio was a noted director and producer of documentaries. His films captured major social, political, and countercultural milestones from the mid to late 20th century, including the Kennedy assassination and the Vietnam War. Due to D’Antonio’s criticism of the political establishment at the time, J.J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI compiled a 10,000-page dossier on him. D’Antonio died in 1989.
The most recent “Artist-in-Residence” was the noted abstract expressionist and new realist painter, Alfred Leslie. The garden level served as his Manhattan studio. Leslie was known for his larger-than-life paintings and series of watercolors titled “100 Views Along the Road”, which documented his many road trips.
Born in the Bronx, he had an entrepreneurial spirit. He financed the expenses related to his first 1952 gallery show, and won an early game show called “Strike It Rich”.
A 1948 certificate of occupancy indicates that a “social club” was located in the basement of the now-multi-family townhouse.
The currently vacant, six-bedroom, six-bathroom property has a rear yard and occupies 5,480 square feet.
In 2022, a fire broke out in the building, but miraculously everyone was okay.
A firefighter and a building resident suffered only minor injuries. The house remains structurally sound, with the original staircase.
Glenn Schiller with The Corcoran Group holds the listing.