Knoedler and Co. Upper East Side townhouse

After nearly forty years in a landmark 1909 townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Knoedler & Company has listed the property with Sotheby’s Realty, tagged $59.5 million.

Knoedler via Sotheby's

The Renaissance-inspired building at 19 East 70th Street includes a ground-floor portico and two-story library. The property was listed for sale on Dec. 17, according to the real estate website Property Shark.  Sotheby’s broker Eva Mohr confirmed she had been hired to sell the building. Knoedler is located on the same block as the Frick Collection and was founded 163 years ago.

Knoedler via Sotheby's

“A gallery on the scale of Knoedler & Company is somewhat constricted by the limitations of a traditional New York City townhouse,” said a gallery spokeswoman. “For this reason the gallery is in the process of considering other locations and alternatives that would offer more suitable space for its modern and contemporary art program.”

Knoedler via Sotheby's

This latest news comes amid other major changes. In October the gallery issued a press release stating that longtime director Ann Freedman had resigned and would be succeeded by Frank Del Deo. More on that here and here. Freedman had been with the gallery since 1978.

Sources at the time said plans were underway for the 57th Street Hammer Galleries to move into a portion of Knoedler’s space. Hammer Galleries owns Knoedler.

[UPDATE: Michael Hammer owns Knoedler and Hammer Galleries, according to his bio. Both entities are owned by 8-31 Holdings Inc., according to a spokeswoman.  Hammer is Chairman of 8-31 Holdings.]  Knoedler’s Chairman, Michael A. Hammer, is the grandson of industrialist Armand Hammer.

Since October the gallery has lost several key artists. The estate of Jules Olitski and artist Lee Bontecou have both left Knoedler. “When there are changes in leadership, one can expect some artists to leave and others to come on board,” said a gallery spokeswoman.