96-Year-Old Fights to Keep $600/Month NYC Apartment

Sunday, January 11, 2009
Philip Stavrou
CTV.CA

Editta Sherman's New York City studio apartment is the stuff of legend.

The 1,000-square foot rooftop studio includes floor-to-ceiling windows, black-and-white checkered floors, and a skylight nestled between the 20 foot ceilings.

It's also located above Carnegie Hall, the legendary concert venue just south of Central Park.

Inside, the 96-year-old photographer lives alone, accompanied only by her collection of portraits of Old Hollywood.

Marlon Brando, Henry Fonda, Elvis Presley, Anthony Quinn, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Andy Warhol, Paul Newman and Angela Lansbury are only a few of the many celebrities Sherman has captured from inside her 12th floor sanctuary.

"Thank God she's alive yet, otherwise everyone is dead," Sherman said in a recent interview with CTV.ca, referring to Lansbury.

And now, after more than 60 years in the same place, Carnegie Hall wants her to leave.

Sherman, who only pays about $600 a month because of the city's antique rent control laws, says they'd have to pay her $10 million to get her out.

The Studio Towers of Carnegie Hall were originally built in the late 1800s, created to house artists in a community environment.

In May 2007, the building operators announced their intentions to turn Sherman's unit, and about 170 others, into an education facility for 115,000 music and art students.

They've managed to get all of the tenants out, except for Sherman and five other unit holders -- all longtime residents living under rent control.

"I'm not moving," the feisty grandmother says.

Carnegie Hall, which is a non-profit organization, has promised to relocate her and pay the difference for a place that is equal or better, which could run as much as $7,000 based on current market value.

But Sherman, who is also known as the Duchess of Carnegie, says that's virtually impossible.

"My name is associated with Carnegie Hall and now if I go somewhere else it's not going to be the same," Sherman says.

"I doubt they can find another place like it, after all I've been here since 1949."

Sherman, who likes to dress up with bright lipstick, feathery hats and a wealth of pearls on her neck and wrists, says people call her a duchess because of her royal heritage. She says her mother was a countess in Italy.

"I don't really like the countess name so I got it to be the duchess instead of the countess," she says with a deep, hoarse laugh.

Legal wrangling

In October 2008, Sherman received a letter from Carnegie Hall notifying her that they want to discuss the repossession of her space -- a nice phrase for a not-so-nice word: eviction.

Then, last month, Sherman received a letter from the State of New York Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), which administers state law regulating rent controlled tenants.

Now, Sherman and the other tenants have a meeting on January 15 with the DHCR to discuss relocating.

In a statement to CTV.ca, Carnegie Hall said "all legal rulings" have endorsed their right to decide on the use of the units.

Andrew Scherer, author of the book "Residential Landlord-Tenant Law in New York," said New York's rent control laws make it difficult for a landlord to evict a tenant.

However, he said there are limited circumstances in which a landlord can get a rent control tenant out, especially if they're going to use it for a non-profit venture.

Scherer said if Sherman fights the eviction and eventually loses her appeal down the road, it's possible she could be forcibly removed from her apartment.

"At that point, if she hasn't gotten out, I would hope her family would come and help out here and help her move someplace out rather than get evicted because the marshal will come with a gun on his or her hip and tell her she's got to get out," Scherer told CTV.ca from New York City.

Her son, Lloyd Sherman, a doctor at Mount Sinai hospital in New York City, says he doesn't think his mother will give up her fight because her identity is so intertwined with Carnegie Hall.

"The Hall is sort of part of her being," he said. "Maybe not so much for some of the others, some of the others can leave because it's just a space to live in.

"It's a little more difficult for her. We have conversations daily almost with her trying to see the future and look to the future."

Lloyd, who grew up in the apartment with his four siblings, says Carnegie Hall's expansion plans don't make sense.

"It's a vague, thinly veiled non-defined plan," he said. "There is no program perspective, there is no architectural plan."

Lloyd said it's unlikely they'll be able to sway his mother to leave.

He said she won't be happy without her skylight because she loves to look up at the stars at night.

"It's like living out in the desert someplace and being able to fall asleep under the stars."

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