Introduction to Jones Wood Garden
Just 12 keys have access to one of New York City’s largest secret gardens — and one of them is up for grabs.
A for-sale Upper East Side townhouse boasts rarified entry to the elusive Jones Wood Garden — where only a handful of New Yorkers get to witness its changing fall foliage or blooming cherry blossoms.
A write-up by the New York Times in 1997 dubbed the garden “one of the last civilized spots in New York: a quiet, intimate green well surrounded by low buildings on all sides, a place where it is hard to calculate any improvement.”
The sunken garden is secreted away between Third and Lexington avenues, accessed by 12 homes lining East 65th and East 66th streets. After an unusual surge of deals since 2024, a single East 65th Street property is back on sale, The Post has learned — asking $11.95 million.
Developers stripped the brownstone facade of its stoop in the 1920s, in favor of a more direct, English-style entrance. Edward Menashy of Evan Joseph Photography
A massive living room window frames the rarified garden. Edward Menashy of Evan Joseph Photography
The home’s private back patio opens to the leafy communal space. Edward Menashy of Evan Joseph Photography
The Property
The 6,000-square-foot listing, held by Scott Hustis and Mark Jovanovic of Paradigm Advisory at Compass, is at No. 157. Compass is the third brokerage to obtain the listing since its initial $13.45 million ask in 2022, according to StreetEasy.
Jovanovic told The Post that the garden feels more like a personal sanctuary than a shared backyard.
“People, surprisingly, don’t use the garden as much as you would think,” he said, comparing the under-trafficked enclave to Gramercy Park.
“You would think that there would be a bunch of people out there all the time, but there’s not,” he added.
Like residents of MacDougal-Sullivan Gardens in Greenwich Village and Midtown’s sought-after Turtle Bay Gardens community, Jones Wood owners enjoy their own private yards attached to the shared garden. The division, in part, makes it difficult to compare the size of the city’s secret gardens — but with just 12 homes allotted nearly a quarter acre of communal space, Jones Wood easily ranks among Manhattan’s largest.
The garden community was formed in the 1920s from a block of tenement buildings. Edward Menashy of Evan Joseph Photography
The home’s private back patio comes with a gas grill. Edward Menashy of Evan Joseph Photography
The formal dining room directly opens to the garden. Edward Menashy of Evan Joseph Photography
History of Jones Wood Garden
What began as a humble collection of tenement brownstones was redeveloped in the 1920s into a community of 12 renovated residences centered around a roughly 10,800-square-foot garden. The English-style retreat was named after Jones Wood, a densely forested plot that once occupied dozens of acres of Manhattan.
Jones Wood Garden has hosted generations of well-to-do New York families who seldom left. That trend changed in May 2024 when a whopping four homes sat on the market simultaneously — a rare event for New York’s secret garden communities. Homes surrounding these urban oases scarcely trade hands.
Twelve-foot ceilings span the parlor floor, which hosts the living room, library and wet bar. Edward Menashy of Evan Joseph Photography
A sitting area includes one of the home’s five woodburning fireplaces. Edward Menashy of Evan Joseph Photography
Recent Sales and Renovations
The Jones Wood Garden sales glut didn’t last long. Three out of the four listings have since sold for between $7.75 million and $9.75 million, according to city records — one in August 2024 and two more this summer.
Only No. 157 remains.
The five-bedroom, six-level home comes with a historic legacy of its own. The property was formerly owned by John Dewey, an influential American philosopher and educator. Dewey’s fingerprint can be found in the home’s oversized elevator, built specially for his disabled son — and the parlor floor’s massive, 9-by-7-foot picture window.
Dewey’s heirs held on to the home for decades. Jovanovic said the property was in a sorry state when the family’s estate sold the home in 2010.
The loft-like fifth floor is a recent addition to the home. Edward Menashy of Evan Joseph Photography
The current owners refurbished the oversized elevator and rebuilt the central staircase. Edward Menashy of Evan Joseph Photography
The home includes north and south-facing terraces on the fifth floor. Edward Menashy of Evan Joseph Photography
The $6.45 million deal went to bankruptcy lawyer Ira Dizengoff and his wife, Betsy Dizengoff, according to city records. The Dizengoffs, who declined to comment on the listing through their brokerage, transformed the home from top to bottom in a multi-year gut renovation. The overhaul included building a new central staircase, excavating a basement level and adding a fifth loft-like floor with two private terraces.
“They did not cut corners anywhere,” Jovanovic said.
Modern amenities in the historic home include a large basement-level gym and heated tile floors in the chef’s kitchen. The primary suite, which takes up the entire third floor, boasts two of the home’s five woodburning fireplaces, as well as a handmade mosaic floor in the bathroom.
The primary suite enjoys a wall of four garden-facing windows. Edward Menashy of Evan Joseph Photography
One of two limestone fireplaces on the third floor. Edward Menashy of Evan Joseph Photography
A mosaic in the bathroom resembles Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” Edward Menashy of Evan Joseph Photography
Conclusion
No. 157 is unoccupied, Jovanovic told The Post, and the owners are motivated to sell. He said that he believes that previous attempts to sell didn’t cater to what the market wanted — a blank slate.
Fresh listing photos certainly do, however, with whitewashed walls and minimalist furniture. Jovanovic said he thinks the approach will find success, “just showing what the house can be, because it’s truly magical.”
FAQs
Q: How many homes have access to Jones Wood Garden?
A: Only 12 homes have access to Jones Wood Garden.
Q: What is the size of the garden?
A: The garden is approximately 10,800 square feet.
Q: How much is the property at No. 157 asking?
A: The property at No. 157 is asking $11.95 million.
Q: What is the history of the property at No. 157?
A: The property at No. 157 was formerly owned by John Dewey, an influential American philosopher and educator, and has undergone a multi-year gut renovation.
Q: What amenities does the property at No. 157 include?
A: The property at No. 157 includes a large basement-level gym, heated tile floors in the chef’s kitchen, and a handmade mosaic floor in the bathroom, among other amenities.
