(Photo: New York Magazine)

860 United Nations Plaza, Apartment 10B
Two-bedroom, two-bath, 1,600-square-foot co-op.
Asking Price: $1.35 million.
Selling Price: $1.2 million.

(Photo: Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images)

The light is outstanding in this corner apartment in United Nations Plaza—and that’s only fitting. That’s because it was the home of Gordon Parks, the legendary photographer and director who died last March at 93. Parks moved into the building in 1971, right around the time his second film, Shaft, was released, and stayed until his last days. He was a true Renaissance man—he shot fashion photographs as well as his journalistic work, and also composed music, wrote books, and campaigned for civil rights. In numerous interviews conducted in this apartment, he spoke extensively of his work, but revealed small pleasures, too, like keeping fresh flowers in his home or staring at the East River through those enormous windows. An unnamed buyer will soon get to enjoy those views: After months on the market, the apartment has finally gone into contract, says Brown Harris Stevens broker Doug Russell, who shared the listing with his colleague Gerald Crown. The buyers, represented by Century 21 NY Metro’s Mary Lou Currier, plan to do some updating.

Related:

• Archive: “Real Estate”
• Articles by S.Jhoanna Robledo
• Table of Contents: Feb 12, 2007 issue of New York | Subscribe!