After the Sensational Auction of Her Estate, Joan Didion’s Home of More Than 30 Years Has Quietly Entered the Market for $7.5 Million
Following the blockbuster auction of Joan Didion’s estate in November, one large piece of the beloved author’s holdings remained unaccounted for. What would become of her Upper East Side apartment, where she resided for over 30 years?
That question has now been answered, at least in part. Six days ago, the spacious four-bedroom co-op was quietly listed. The home—located in one of the “most prestigious residential addresses in New York City,” according to the listing—comes with a price tag of $7.5 million.
Joan Didion’s apartment building at 30 East 71st Street. Courtesy of Sotheby’s International Realty.
Didion wrote several critically acclaimed works inside the unit, including The Year of Magical Thinkingwhich chronicled her grief following the sudden death of her husband, the writer John Gregory Dunne, in 2003. Didion adapted the memoir for the stage, which debuted on Broadway in 2007, starring Vanessa Redgrave.
The couple purchased the home—their primary residence—in 1988. Didion herself served on the co-op board.
Interior view of Joan Didion’s apartment for sale. Courtesy of Sotheby’s International Realty.
The listing comes just over two months since Didion’s estate auction, a sensational event in which members of the public scooped up a wide selection of her personal effects, from her Le Creuset dishware to her Céline sunglasses. The sale netted nearly $2 million and benefited two charities, one of them a scholarship for women in literature in her hometown of Sacramento.
Kitchen view of Joan Didion’s apartment. Courtesy of Sotheby’s International Realty.
In late January, the New York Public Library acquired Didion and Dunne’s joint literary archives, purchasing the couple’s personal collection of letters, photographs, and manuscripts. The research files for Didion’s much-lauded essays in The White Album and Slouching Towards Bethlehem were included, as were notes and drafts of The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nightsher account of her daughter Quintana Roo Dunne’s death in 2005.
Buyers of the literary kind will have their pick of writing spaces. The unit contains a large den with a step-up library (and wet bar), as well as a staff room. The kitchen, where Didion famously spent much of her time, boasts a professional-grade Viking oven range. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, beamed ceilings, herringbone flooring, and a wood-burning fireplace round out the amenities.
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