The 4,774-square-foot Beacon Hill manse dating from the Andrew Jackson administration has had an odd route to the milli-milestone.
Back in June 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon spill was all over the news and Mitt Romney was just a relatively popular ex-governor of Massachusetts, the 6-BR, 5-BA townhouse at 51 Chestnut Street went on the sales market for $6,850,000. It had sold for $5,125,000 five years before, and there was little indication that in Boston's bullish market post-Great Recession it wouldn't command a similarly high price.
And then: It traded in January 2011 in what looks like a fire sale for $1,240,000—or, 89.1 percent below the asking price. So! As far as we're concerned, it's still on the market from June 2010, which means it just this mid-week passed 1,000 days, making it by far Boston's oldest sales listing. That's quite a feat, considering how fast homes sell 'round these parts. The townhouse, which, if you're being pedantic, went back on the market in October 2012, is asking $5,875,000. You have time.
· Listing: 51 Chestnut Street [Zillow]
· The Fastest Sales in the Hub [Curbed Boston]
· Our Methuselahs archive [Curbed Boston]