An Upper East Side Duplex Maisonette by Central Park is on the market for $11.99 million – and it once housed a lavish wine collection was the subject of a custody battle In an epic sour grapes divorce.
The 4,300-square-foot, five-bedroom, 4½-bath unit at 812 Fifth Avenue, between East 62nd and East 63rd Streets, was owned by foodie and financier Roger Yasin.
His divorce from his first wife, Janet – the current seller – came after she reneged on their agreement in 2001 to give him access to his vast four-figure bottle wine collection totaling $500,000.
Both were married between 1961 and 1997.
Janet did not curtail visitation rights to Liquor until 1999, the year in which Roger remarried the late TV reporter and producer Barbara Conroy. The matter was settled out of court and the collection was auctioned.
The home opens to an entry gallery with handcrafted parquet de Versailles floors and a dramatic winding staircase.
The luxurious duplex features a 1,400-square-foot private garden with four Japanese Katsura trees and a Weeping Beach.
Inside, there’s a large living room and an adjacent glass greenhouse—both of which open out to the garden and patio through sliding glass doors.
In addition, there’s a formal dining room with marble floors, bedrooms overlooking Central Park — and a chef’s kitchen with two ovens, a separate stock pot range “with enough BTUs to gut a cow” and 5-foot custom range hood, according to the listing, which notes that Roger was also the national president of the Confrerie de la Chine des Rotisseurs, a national gourmet society.
He is also the Honorary Director of CityMeals on Wheels.
The main bedroom is on the upper floor. The fourth bedroom at the top of the landing overlooks the inner garden and is currently a home office. It features a renowned temperature-controlled and refrigerated custom 5,000-bottle wine cellar with a reinforced floor to hold boozy bounty. The home also comes with its own private entrance, but also has access to a concierge and full-service entrance.
The 19-story limestone building, which dates to 1963, was built on the site of three former townhouses. The building also once housed Vice President and New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, who attached the penthouse to another residence he owned at 810 Fifth Avenue. The penthouse is where Rockefeller held his famous “Pact of Fifth Avenue” summit with Richard Nixon prior to Nixon’s 1960 presidency. run.
Jordan co-founder Ralph Nakash bought the Rockefeller Penthouse in 2021 for $9.95 million, after buying the three-bedroom on the bottom floor for $6.9 million.
The listing broker is Bonnie Hut Yasin, daughter-in-law of Roger and Janet of Corcoran.