Daniel Arsham Turned a 19th Century FDNY Firehouse Into His Personal Home and Now He Is Selling It for $9 Million

There is something quietly poetic about this one.

An artist who built his entire career around the idea of objects surviving time is now selling the most time-layered space he has ever personally lived in. A firehouse built in 1887.

A building that outlived horse-drawn engines, a fashion era, and now, one of contemporary art’s most recognized voices.

This is not just a celebrity real estate listing. It is a story that has been 137 years in the making.

The Building Had Already Lived Three Lives Before Arsham Touched It

185 Lafayette Street in Lower Manhattan was built in 1887 by Napoleon LeBrun, the official architect of the New York City Fire Department. LeBrun designed more than 40 firehouses across the city. This one was built for Engine Company No. 55.

By 1898, the city widened Elm Street into Lafayette Street. The company relocated. The building lost its top floor during that process. Its cornices and terra cotta rosettes were lowered. Decades passed. An automotive shop moved in. Then a surplus store.

In 2009, photographer Terry Richardson purchased it for $3.3 million. By 2022, he listed it for $5.5 million. That is when Daniel Arsham walked through the door.

What Drew Arsham In and What He Built Inside It

Arsham paid nearly $6 million for the property in the summer of 2022, handled by Nick Gavin of Compass. The same agent is now listing it at $8,995,000.

What drew him in first was not the address. It was the curb cut. A break in the sidewalk that lets a vehicle drive directly into the building, originally built for horse-drawn fire engines.

Getting a new one approved in Manhattan today is nearly impossible. Arsham needed somewhere secure to park his Porsche 964 Carrera 2. The firehouse already had it.

The exterior still carries its original patterned brickwork and cast-iron pillars topped with flame motifs. The building spans roughly 21 feet wide across four stories, with the structure landmarked and protected from major changes.

Inside, the ground floor became a studio and garage. The iron spiral staircase was repainted in his signature mint green. The upper levels have wide-plank oak floors, 13-foot ceilings, and large windows looking out over Lafayette Street.

The kitchen has white oak cabinetry, an eat-in island, and Miele and Sub-Zero appliances throughout.

The sole bedroom is a full-floor primary suite with wallpaper based on a Paris installation Arsham created, a bespoke walk-in closet, and a bath with Vola fixtures, a sculpted sink, and a windowed steam shower.

The roof has a landscaped terrace, outdoor kitchen, cabana, and downtown skyline views. The basement holds storage, laundry, and a flexible recreation space, with smart-home systems and multi-zone climate control designed around art preservation.

None of the art displayed inside is included in the sale.

As Robb Report covered in their full feature on the listing, any future owner will be working within the same landmark constraints that Arsham did.

The Angle No One Is Talking About

Daniel Arsham’s entire practice is built around something he calls “fictional archaeology.” He takes familiar objects from the present, cameras, sneakers, gaming consoles, Porsche bodies, and transforms them into eroded, crystal-covered relics from an imagined future.

As if they were dug up centuries from now.

He has done this with Dior. With Adidas. With Tiffany. With Pharrell Williams. With Pokemon. In 2020, he became creative director of the Cleveland Cavaliers. His sculptures range from $10,000 to over $200,000 depending on scale and edition.

Now look at what he chose to live in for four years.

A 137-year-old fire station. Landmarked. Architecturally preserved. A building that has already survived through multiple centuries, multiple uses, and multiple owners. A physical relic of New York’s past that cannot be dramatically altered.

The mint green staircase. The Porsche in the original horse-engine bay. His sculptures sharing shelves with pop culture collectibles. Every detail inside this building speaks the same visual language as his art.

He did not just renovate a firehouse. He curated one.

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It is a reminder that the most compelling properties are rarely just about square footage.

The same quiet tension around historic spaces changing hands showed up recently with the former DuPont CEO who listed his 260-year-old Pennsylvania farm for $18.8 million, a property where the weight of history was doing as much work as the listing price.

Why This Matters

Arsham paid nearly $6 million in 2022. The listing is now $8,995,000. That is roughly a 50% increase in under four years, inside a neighborhood where SoHo median condo prices have reached $7.9 million.

That number is not an accident.

According to data from The Real Deal and Olshan Realty, Manhattan luxury sales in 2025 crossed nearly $12 billion across more than 1,400 contracts, an 11% year-over-year increase, making it the second biggest luxury year on record since 2006.

SoHo, where landmarked buildings limit new supply, has held some of the highest price-per-square-foot figures in all of downtown Manhattan.

But the bigger shift in 2026 is not just pricing. It is what buyers are actually seeking. Properties with architectural provenance, cultural identity, and a story that cannot be replicated are consistently outperforming standard renovated condos in the same zip code.

A Napoleon LeBrun firehouse. Renovated by one of the most commercially visible contemporary artists working today. With a one-of-one curb cut in Lower Manhattan. That is not a listing. That is a collector’s asset.

It follows the same pattern as Jennifer Lopez finally finding a buyer for the Beverly Hills mansion she shared with Ben Affleck, where the identity attached to a home carried just as much market weight as the property itself.

Or even the Kennedy family listing their Cape Cod home for $1.6 million after no one showed up, proof that legacy alone does not guarantee an easy sale. Behind every significant listing, there is always a bigger story driving it.

Key Takeaways

• 185 Lafayette Street is listed at $8,995,000 through Compass, handled by Nick Gavin
• Built in 1887 for FDNY Engine Company No. 55, designed by Napoleon LeBrun
• Arsham purchased the property in 2022 for nearly $6 million from Terry Richardson
• The property spans four stories plus a basement and rooftop terrace, roughly 21 feet wide
• The rare Manhattan curb cut, originally built for horse-drawn engines, was the deciding factor for Arsham
• The restored cast-iron spiral staircase is now lacquered in Arsham’s signature mint green
• The building sits within a landmarked historic district, limiting structural changes for any future buyer
• Arsham’s primary residence is near the Hamptons; this was his NYC live-work space

What do you think makes a space like this worth nearly $9 million to the right buyer? Is it the architecture, the artist’s identity, or just the address? Drop your take in the comments. Genuinely curious what people think about this one.

Wrapping Up

A building that started as a fire station in 1887 is now on the market as one of SoHo’s most distinctive live-work properties. What Arsham did here was not a renovation project.

It was four years of quiet, deliberate curation by someone who has built an entire career around the idea of objects carrying time forward.

That story does not leave the building when he does.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. All details are based on publicly available reports at the time of publication.