The Clinton Hill townhouse where Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe shared their first apartment together is back on the rental market, this time asking $17,500 a month. The three-story house at 160 Hall Street dates to 1901 and still carries the weight of its bohemian backstory even as it's been fitted out with central air and a marble-clad primary bath.
According to 6sqft, the townhouse has undergone a recent full interior renovation while keeping its preserved original exterior intact. The main living floor includes a living room, open kitchen and dining area, and large glass doors open onto a private backyard, per the same report. Original details like pine floors, exposed oak beams, painted brick and wood-latticed windows remain, giving the home a sense of continuity with its much scruffier past.
That past is well documented. Smith and Mapplethorpe made their first home together on one floor of the townhouse in 1967, according to the listing writeup, paying just $80 a month in rent at the time. The Observer reported that the couple paid $160 just to move in, a detail Smith herself has recounted: “The rent was eighty dollars a month. We paid one hundred and sixty dollars to move into 160 Hall Street.”
From $80 a Month to More Than $200,000 a Year
From $80 a Month to More Than $200,000 a Year The arc of this property's asking price tells its own story about Brooklyn real estate. The Observer's 2012 report pegged the townhouse's sale asking price at $1 million, while Architectural Digest later reported it hit the rental market in 2018 for $8,000 a month. Now, per 6sqft's account, the current ask has more than doubled that 2018 figure to $17,500 monthly — a sum that would have covered more than 200 months of Smith and Mapplethorpe's original rent.
The Observer's 2012 report described the townhouse as 2,400 square feet; the home later hit the rental market in 2018 for $8,000 a month.
Three Bedrooms, a Rooftop, and a Finished Lower Level
Whatever the exact footprint, the top two floors now contain three bedrooms and three full baths, 6sqft reports, with the primary suite featuring a marble-clad bath, soaking tub, and a walk-in steam and rain shower. The finished lower level can serve as a home office, gym, or recreation room, and residents get access to a rooftop with views of both Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Modern conveniences round out the listing: central air, zoned heat, a fireplace, dishwasher, and washer/dryer are all included, according to the report. The listing is handled by Thomas Martin of Brooklyn Properties, with photos credited to Martin and the brokerage.
For now, the townhouse that once hosted two struggling young artists remains, as 6sqft puts it, firmly on the city's cultural map — just with a rent that bears little resemblance to the one Smith and Mapplethorpe scraped together in 1967.
