Anderson Cooper buys a Hot Property in NY.

CNN newsman Anderson Cooper recently purchased an old Greenwich Village firehouse complete with brass fire poles that he will turn into a new home.  The century-old building on West Third Street was also requested this week for a spot on the National Register of Historic Places, something that he can use for a slew of tax breaks if his renovations maintain the firehouse's historic façade.

Construction crews have started inside the building, taking down partitions and ripping out old plumbing fixtures.  Cooper has hired architect Cary Tamarkin, known for residential conversions. The building, built in the Beaux Arts style, still has its original spiral staircases, brass fire poles, overhead beams used to dry hoses and walls covered with murals marking the fire patrol's history.

The current building is 8,240 square feet of space -- not including a two-story former stable in the rear yard.  This gives him about four times as much space as his current penthouse duplex on West 38th Street. Cooper's new home will fittingly sport a bust of Mercury, the Roman god of speed, atop the firehouse's main door. 


Cooper paid $4.3 million for this property.