This ain’t no joke.
Bill Cosby’s Upper East Side townhouse may have been a grand gesture of love — but it’s now shaping up to be an expensive cautionary tale.
The disgraced comedian and his wife Camille have listed their long-held townhouse at 18 E. 71st St. for a cool $29 million, as first reported by Realtor.com.
The sale comes months after court records claim they’ve defaulted on $17.5 million in loans tied to the property.
Bill Cosby has listed his longtime Upper East Side townhouse at 18 E. 71st St. for $29 million amid a foreclosure suit alleging he and his wife Camille defaulted on $17.5 million in loans tied to the property. J.C. Rice
The 13,000-square-foot residence quietly hit the market last Friday with Corcoran, offering a rare chance to own a limestone-and-copper Gilded Age manse just steps from Central Park.
The listing broker, Corcoran’s Adam Schneider, declined to comment.
Cosby purchased the home in 1987 for $6.2 million, during his reign on NBC’s “The Cosby Show,” reportedly as a surprise gift for his wife, Camille.
Once known as the Luyster Mansion, the home was designed in 1899 by John Duncan, best known for Grant’s Tomb located farther uptown, and reflects the stately neo-French Classic style.
With hand-carved limestone façades and two-story copper mansards, it stands tall among East 71st’s architectural elite — even amid infamy. Just a few doors down sits Jeffrey Epstein’s former townhouse, which sold in 2021 for $51 million.
A photo of Bill Cosby on Jan. 16, 1997 returning to his Upper East Side townhouse at 18 E. 71st St. after learning that his only son was shot to death in Los Angeles. Francis Specker/NY Post
The listing, notably, omits any reference to Cosby — not to mention his mounting financial troubles.
According to a Manhattan Supreme Court foreclosure suit, the Cosbys stopped making mortgage payments in June 2024 and owe more than $300,000 in property taxes.
First Foundation Bank foreclosed on the property last year. In legal filings, Cosby and his wife have denied the bank’s claims.
Despite the legal drama, the home’s interiors are nothing short of regal. A Carrara marble vestibule opens to a center hall with 15-foot ceilings, leading into a 500-square-foot primary parlor with inlaid mahogany floors and the first of 11 fireplaces.
The seven-story, 13,000-square-foot limestone mansion — known as the Luyster Mansion — was designed in 1899 by John Duncan and features 11 fireplaces, a mahogany elevator, a formal dining room for 30 and a 500-square-foot roof terrace. J.C. Rice
French doors open onto East 71st Street, while an original mahogany-and-bronze elevator connects most floors.
A dramatic drawing room boasts 20-foot vaulted ceilings and herringbone parquet floors, while one level down a formal dining room seats 30.
The adjacent chef’s kitchen, fitted with terracotta tile, beveled glass and a restaurant-grade rotisserie oven, was crafted during the building’s earlier life as part of the Lycée Français — the French-language school.
The primary suite offers dual full bathrooms. Vaulted skylights brighten the chamber floors, while the top level features a tranquil study, plus a guest room with private terrace access, skylights and wide-plank pine floors.
The couple remains listed on the property’s deed. AFP/Getty Images
The roof garden, a 500-square-foot private terrace, crowns the property.
Records show the comedian’s 1987 purchase was structured through a lawyer, later transferred to Camille’s mother, and finally into the Cosbys’ name.
In 1990, the couple accused their former attorney, Mary Waller, of embezzling millions related to the deal — an early signal of the complex financial wrangling that would follow.
Now, the townhouse is not the only Cosby property in the spotlight.
This marks Cosby’s second foreclosure battle in Manhattan, following a similar lawsuit involving a separate Lenox Hill property. J.C. Rice
In December, CitiMortgage sued the couple for defaulting on a $4.2 million loan tied to a separate Lenox Hill townhouse at 243 E. 61st St., which Cosby bought in 1980.
That four-story home listed for $7 million in April, later dropping by nearly $250,000 in July amid legal proceedings.
The once-sterling reputation of Cosby — who was convicted in 2018 of assaulting Andrea Constand, then released in 2021 after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the ruling — has long since cratered. More than 60 women have publicly accused him of sexual misconduct.
A spokesperson for Cosby declined to comment on the East 71st Street foreclosure and sale.
