Sometimes when exuberance trumps elegance it can be delightful. Case in point the New York City townhouse belonging to the late designer Abbijane Schifrin. The NY Times Big Deal column reports that Schifrin loved her Gramercy Park townhouse and held fashion shows there as well as drawing her designs on the kitchen table. The townhouse was built in the mid 19th century and rebuilt in 1910 and 1911 by Frederick J. Sterner. Much of his work including oak paneling, stone and brick fireplaces and Arts-and-Crafts style leaded windows is still preserved in the home. Details include a latticework of oak on the dining room ceiling, a barrel-ceilinged living room and a small formal rear garden.

The home is vibrantly colorful on the upper floors including an otherworldly blue bathroom and a hot pink bedroom that another designer, Betsy Johnson, might go mad for. The single-family house was turned into a two-unit condominium six years ago and the upper two stories were sold off. Now Schifrin's heirs and her upstairs neighbor are putting it on the market as a single home. It is listed at $8.75 million.

Last month I mentioned that New York's skinniest townhouse is on the market for $2.75 million. Furnishing a home with these size limitations (9 1/2 feet wide and 42 feet long) is no easy task but IKEA thinks it can help. The decor megastore is offering the future buyers free design expertise and $10,000 in furniture. "We're so in love with small spaces that we're putting an offer on the table, albeit a skinny table – free furniture and design expertise to the eventual buyers, says Janice Simonsen, IKEA design expert and spokesperson. I'm just curious to know how they might handle the kitchen, the narrow space has an oven with all four burners in a single row instead of the usual two-by-two arrangement.

I've been watching the price on this six-story townhouse in New York City fall for a while. Cityfile reports that real estate developer Andrew Heiberger has dropped the price of his East 63rd Street again. Heiberger bought the townhouse in 2004 for $8.15 million. It first hit the market for $16.85 million in February 2009. In June it went down to $14.85 million and now it is listed for $13.75 million.

The home has five bedrooms and a total of seven working fireplaces with antique and period mantels. The bottom floor has a beautiful kitchen that appears to incorporate the original hearth and has doors that lead out to the garden. One room has been turned into a bathroom that features a huge tub in front of a fireplace, another room has been cloaked in dark fabric and does service as a rather narrow media room. The roofdeck offers ample room for outdoor dining.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

As prices continue to fall in Manhattan some truly gorgeous townhouses can be had for far less than they would have commanded a year ago. Today's home, a five-story townhouse on East 65th Street is nicely situated between Park and Lexington Avenue. The gated home was built by F. S. Barus in 1874 and has a classic brownstone facade. It has been updated with an elevator, central heat and air-conditioning, security and an irrigation system for the garden, terrace and roof garden. The striking entrance hall features a black and white marble floor and vibrant tomato-colored walls. The sunny lemon-colored dining room has a pair of skylights and French doors that lead to the garden. It is next to the kitchen which was designed by Wolfgang Puck. Upstairs there is an elegant and feminine celery and salmon living room, a navy-walled library, wet bar and large terrace overlooking the garden. The master bedroom is on its own floor with a second library/large dressing room and marble bath. There are four additional bedrooms and baths, as well as a roof terrace with open city views and a temperature controlled wine cellar in the basement.

This amazing example of New York City life just had a price cut. Cityfile reveals that the home, owned by Paul Kerz, the former CEO of Health Management Systems, and his wife Corinne was once listed at $12.5 million it now skates under the all important $10 million mark at $9.95 million.

Beautiful blonde Brit actress Sienna Miller has put her posh London townhouse (above) up for sale at £995,000, or about $1.6 million. The starlet, as well known for her roles in films like Alfie as for a heated romance with Jude Law, apparently favors a "Manhattan meets Morocco" vibe judging by the décor at the residence situated somewhere between Marylebone and St. John's Wood not far from her pal Kate Moss' pad, though there seems to be some debate about how posh the location really is.

The house, which boasts both a fireplace and a terrace, features a striking ground floor studio-style reception room with a galleried study area as well as a louche lower ground floor entertaining area complete with a Turkish bath and sauna. The Real Estalker notes that Miller purchased the house 2007 for £1.2 million, or about $1.9 million (at the current deflated rate of exchange) which means that even if she gets her full asking price, she stands to lose at least $325,000 on the deal.

Last fall we checked out Aby Rosen's $75 million townhouse in New York City but this isn't the only prime piece of real estate belonging to the art collector and investor. The Wall Street Journal's Private Properties reports that he has dropped the price on another of his properties. He bought a 25-foot-wide townhouse on East 94th Street for $8.8 million and set to renovating it. The home is over 11,700 square feet on six floors that include five bedrooms, a wine cellar, elevator and a 50-foot indoor pool. There are five woodburning fireplaces and the home makes great use of skylights to add light to the home. Rosen first listed the home for $29.5 million but it is now listed at $23.75 million. Check out more images at the property website.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

Businesspeople turned arts philanthropists Donald and Shelley Rubin take their love of the arts into the design of their living spaces. As the New York Observer's Manhattan Transfers reports the pair have listed their design-centric brick townhouse at 122 East 70th Street for $20.2 million. The house reportedly cost $5.18 million when they bought it in 1995 and was given a striking design by Samuel Botero. The home celebrates the couple's predilection for Tibetan art with details like a dragon and phoenix rug that changes color as it winds up the staircases in the home, a medallion of the horn of plenty done in semiprecious stones on the kitchen floor and one of the most startling modern fireplace mantels around, carved and polished alabaster that swirls and folds like draped fabric. More amazing pictures can be found on Botero's website.

The home includes a roof deck with a kitchen, three terraces, a backyard garden and many gorgeous rooms spread out over five stories. There is a beautiful wood paneled library, two full kitchens with a dumb waiter, a hot-tub on the fifth floor, an elevator and more. It is listed at $20.2 million.

Madonna has signed a contract to buy a four-story brick townhouse on East 81st Street in NYC for about $40 million, sources tell the New York Post. Reminiscent of a London townhouse, the 12,000-sq.-ft., 26-room classic Georgian residence (above) is notable for its extraordinary 57-foot width, making it one of the widest houses on the Upper East side. It features 13 bedrooms, 14 baths, a 3000-sq.ft. garden bordered by tall trees, rhododendron bushes and roses, and has a double-car garage, another Upper East Side rarity.

The historic mansion features a 38' x 22' drawing room with tall south windows overlooking the garden, a paneled dining room off the garden terrace, an intimate library, 11' ceilings, 9 fireplaces, a Georgian staircase, an elevator, a wine cellar with a grotto, and space for a rooftop garden. A portion of the townhouse, which currently functions as separate living quarters with its own entry, can be combined with the main residence and probably will be.

Madonna plans major renovations including significant security upgrades. "The townhouse is perfect for Madonna," a source tells the paper. "She's trying to recreate London in New York City, and this is in the style of a London townhouse." Meanwhile, the pop star is said to be searching for an English country house-style estate in the horse country of the East End of Long Island or Westchester, north of the city. As we reported recently, she has also been renting a mansion in Palm Beach.

Disgraced gallery owner Larry Salander really needs to sell his townhouse at 63 East 82nd Street. The art dealer was arrested on March 26 when he and his gallery were charged with 100 counts, including grand larceny and securities fraud. He could face up to 25 years in prison in a scheme that roped in tennis champion John McEnroe among others to pay shares for art that Salander never owned. This week , Steven Harvey, a one-time employee of Salander pleaded guilty to falsifying business records in the first degree.

The NY Observer reveals that Salander's townhouse, which was listed for $25 million and is now priced at $15.995 million. In January 2008, the NY Times reported that Salander and his wife had asked a federal bankruptcy judge to approve a plan to sell their six-story townhouse. Records show that Salander bought the home in 2004 for $4.75 million. The home has approximately 9,000 square feet of space spread out over six stories with a sweeping staircase, seven bedrooms, six full baths and three half baths, a landscaped garden and two terraces. The home has an elevator, woodburning fireplaces and a security system.

Louis Vuitton designer Marc Jacobs is said to have signed a contract to buy a $13 million townhouse (above) designed by starchitect Robert A.M. Stern in New York's West Village, the Real Estalker reports. The 4,5000-sq.-ft. townhouse, located on Bethune St., is part of the ambitious, ecologically-friendly Superior Ink development which has also attracted the likes of Hilary Swank. The townhouse features its own all-level elevator, wood-burning fireplaces, a designer garden and rooftop terrace.

The Superior Ink Condominiums and Townhouses are newly constructed structures located on the site of the former Superior Ink factory that was built in 1919. The high-priced complex's luxury amenities include a private screening room, an entertainment lounge, a fitness center with a Pilates/yoga room, a children's playroom, 24-hour valet parking, and 24-hour concierge and doorman services in the tower, pictured above at left. Buyers have a choice of luxurious custom finishes.

Today's townhouse is a modern gray slice in Murray Hill in New York City. The four-story home is 20 feet wide and was reconstructed from the ground up. The artsy home is over 5,000 square feet of space with open ceilings and patches of exposed brick for a rough edge. The home's spaces include a lower level gym, main floor with a living room, dining room and kitchen, a master suite with a fireplace and access to the garden and a large bathroom. The third floor includes a studio and gallery with a solarium and the top floor offers a guest space with a living room, bedroom, kitchenette & bathroom. This home is listed at $6.995 million.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

Today's home is located in a prime area off Dupont Circle in Washington D.C. This home was built in 1890 and is a stately townhome on Massachusetts Avenue next to many other similar homes which are embassies, cultural institutions, foundations, associations and private residences. The first floor of the home is given over to grand public rooms for entertaining including double formal parlors and a large dining room with a fireplace. There is also a catering kitchen and a custom wine cellar . The second through fourth floors are the family space including a family kitchen, living room and five bedrooms. The home is done in a luxurious and formal style that would befit the family of a senator or dignitary. It is listed at $17.5 million.

For more prime properties and lush locations, see Luxury Homes and Mansions.

I was going to leave this one for the Sunday real estate round-up but a couple of you have mentioned it to me in the tips I decided to take a look at it a little early. And rightly so, a $64 million townhouse is worth a post to itself. The Henry T. Sloane mansion on East 68th Street in New York City would be the most expensive townhouse sold in city if it sells for the asking price (a record of $53 million was set for the Harkness mansion in 2006). It's not the most expensive listing price, as far as I know, the penthouse at the Pierre listed for $70 million still claims that honor.

Why so much? Part of it is location, the townhouse is located just steps away from Fifth Avenue on the East Side. Part of it is size, the building has 18,500 square feet total spread out over five stories. Two of the stories have 17-foot ceilings. There are 15 bedrooms and 17 bathrooms, seven fireplaces, a ballroom and a rooftop garden. Part of the lure is the history and design, the mansion was designed by architect Charles Pierrepont H. Gilbert for Sloane, the heir to a furniture empire, in 1905. The home is classic Beaux-Arts style and five of the rooms have all their original details intact. The wood-paneled ballroom with original oil-painted murals is particularly noteworthy.

The real estate broker Paula Del Nunzio and Brown Harris Stevens, the real estate firm she works for, could split a commission of $3.8 million on the sale. These days it's hard to predict just how a high-priced listing will behave. Some stay on the market for years until the right buyer with enough cash comes along. Some are snapped up nearly immediately. This one, given the size, location and history probably won't linger long.

UPDATE: Turns out I was wrong, it's been on the market for over a year and is now listed at $54 million.
[Thanks Lana and David]

SECOND UPDATE: This home has gone through a bunch of price drops and is now listed with Corcoran for $39 million.

Ah Beacon Hill, arguably Boston's most charming neighborhood, a hilly little enclave of brick townhouses and cobblestone streets. Today's home is a five-story townhome with a long history (it was constructed in 1827). It is located on the sunny side of Chestnut Street (trust me, in the winter months this is vitally important). It was renovated in 2000. Because it is an older Beacon Hill townhome it's narrow but the ceilings are high and it does have an elevator. The three-bedroom home has a guest suite, a study with a terrace that gives you a rooftop view over the surrounding homes and your own brick courtyard. It is listed at $5.4 million.

This beautiful home overlooking Lincoln Park in Chicago is designed for the art lover. The steel and glass home is a three-level modern masterpeice. The home has over 6,700 square feet of space that includes terrazzo floors, a spiraling staircase and large rooms that embrace the concept of airiness. It has massive windows and yet there is still plenty of room to hang and display art. One of the most stunning items is a a glass display case that divides the dining room from the living room. The master bedroom has walk-in closets (just in case you haven't spent all your money on art) and a large white marble master bath. The home, created by architect Perry Jenke, received a Distinguished Building Award in 1995. It is listed at $6.95 million. After the jump, your own private museum.