A Sound Effects Pioneer’s Hudson River-View Manhattan Apartment Is Up for Grabs
He might not be a household name, but if you happened to watch movies in the 1960s and beyond, you likely came across Elisha Birnbaum’s handiwork as a foley artist. Think of a trotting horse achieved via coconut shells striking against a carpeted floor and even a knife cutting through flesh, which he mimicked by buying the largest turkey he could find and then mutilating the massive fowl so much that his wife Zmira refused to cook it for dinner.
He subsequently founded the New York City-based Sound One Corporation, which would go on to become a prominent East Coast post-production sound studio that worked with top producers and directors such as Martin Scorsese, Nora Ephron, Spike Lee, Ang Lee, and Woody Allen. And though he retired in 2000 after selling Sound One to Liberty Media, Birnbaum’s CineMontage obituary reports that he continued to watch as many movies as he could and picked up painting and digital art to fill his days.
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Now, almost a year after he passed away at age 92, the Upper West Side apartment that he occupied for more than five decades has popped up for sale, asking $3.7 million. The listing is held by Jennifer Roberts of Coldwell Banker Warburg.
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Sited within the 18-story Normandy residential building designed in the late ’30s by noted architect Emery Roth, Birnbaum’s former home rests on the 17th floor and has four bedrooms and three baths in roughly 2,400 square feet of living space spread across two combined units. The interiors are outfitted with herringbone-patterned hardwood floors, nine-foot beamed ceilings, wood-paneled walls, stained-glass accents, and large windows overlooking the picturesque skyline and the Hudson River.
Highlights include a columned entrance gallery that leads to a living room boasting a wood-burning fireplace. On one side of the gallery is a spacious bookshelf-lined room holding a dining area that connects to a modern black-and-red kitchen equipped with an eat-in peninsula and an adjacent seating/breakfast nook.
Elsewhere is the primary bedroom, which hosts a private terrace and a swanky blue-tiled bath with a built-in soaking tub and a separate shower. Three additional bedrooms include one with its own entrance, plus a second terrace and a laundry room that previously served as an extra kitchen.
A hefty $6,270 monthly common charge fee allows the new owner to take advantage of numerous amenities that encompass 24-hour doormen, a resident manager, a landscaped garden courtyard and rooftop deck, two fitness centers, a children’s playroom, and bike and storage space. An added bonus: The building is right across the street from Riverside Park and its scenic walking paths.
Click here for more photos of Elisha Birnbaum’s longtime Manhattan home.
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