Townhouses Took Off in December, and Neighbors Filed a Rare Joint Listing

Manhattan townhouses took center stage in December, with several big sales and a prominent listing.

The film producer Scott Rudin teamed up with a neighbor for a combined listing at 20-22 Bank Street in the West Village. His four-story Greek Revival house (with a nearly identical facade on the home next door) was previously owned by Graydon Carter, the longtime editor in chief of Vanity Fair.

In Turtle Bay, the cosmetics heir Ronald S. Lauder sold the glass Rockefeller Guest House, while the house where the composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim had livedhas a new owner, two years after his death. And on the Upper West Side, the real estate developer Charles Bendit, and his wife, Karyn Bendit, closed on the sale of their townhouse.

Other noteworthy December closings included the purchase of a co-op through a trust for Sara Lee Schupf, for whom the Sara Lee dessert business was named. Among those selling their co-ops were Cathie Black, a former New York City Schools chancellor, and her husband, Thomas E. Harvey, a lawyer, as well as the novelist Erica Jong. All three transactions were on the Upper East Side.

The month’s biggest sale, also on the Upper East Side, was a six-bedroom, six-and-a-half-bath penthouse at 200 East 83rd Street, at Third Avenue, that closed at roughly $38.3 million. The buyer used the limited liability company 200 E 83 Unit PHC.

The twin red brick townhouses at 20-22 Bank Street, between Waverly Place and West Fourth Street, are being sold together (as a D.I.Y. mansion) for $37.5 million. Combined, the houses are nearly 40 feet wide with around 7,600 square feet of interior space that includes eight bedrooms, eight full bathrooms and two powder rooms. Outdoor space totals roughly 2,000 square feet. Both structures, built around 1845, retain many original architectural details like their numerous wood-burning fireplaces and ironwork.

Mr. Rudin, who has won critical acclaim for films like “The Social Network” and “No Country for Old Men,” and Broadway shows including “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Book of Mormon,” owns No. 22. He bought the building from Mr. Carter in 2019, paying $17.4 million, then commenced extensive renovations.