A historic clapboard house in the West Village is now 27 percent off its original April 2019 asking price.
The home at 17 Grove St., which dates back two centuries, is now asking $8.75 million — down from $12 million.
The two-story property was built in 1822, and a third floor was added in 1870. The fully restored home features four bedrooms, three bathrooms, powder rooms and fireplaces. It was built for William Hyde, a window sash maker, and the sale includes a secret “back house” that was his original clapboard shop — now transformed into a two-story guest home — at 100 Bedford St.
Wooden homes are rare in Manhattan as most were destroyed by fires in 1776, 1835 and 1845 before they were banned altogether below 155th Street, according to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.
The main home at 17 Grove also comes with a trapdoor that may have led to a holding space or a tunnel to hide people escaping slavery as part of the Underground Railroad, the listing broker, Corcoran’s Jane Beal, said.
The listing notes that it was also once connected to Chumley’s, a nearby restaurant, when that outpost was operating as a speakeasy in the 1920s.
In the 1980s, Ken Handler — son of Mattel co-founders Elliot and Ruth Handler and the namesake of Barbie’s Ken doll — restored the home to single-family status.
It was then bought for $2.2 million in 1999 by the late Don Taffner, who brought “Three’s Company” and other British shows to the US. It is now owned by his daughter, Karen Taffner Butler.