Where Did Carrie Bradshaw Live?
According to the show's storyline, Carrie Bradshaw lived on the Upper East Side neighborhood. However, things aren't so simple as the address of Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment was traditionally 64 Perry Street, which is actually in the West Village. And as the seasons passed, they decided to move the address right next door at 66 Perry due to the more elegant staircase in the front of the building.
Can You Visit Carrie Bradshaw’s Apartment?
Yes, you can visit Carrie's Sex and the City apartment. If you head to 64 Perry Street you can take photos in front of Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment building. However, the apartment interior you see on Sex and the City is a different story. The entire setup was designed by an interior design specialist, which was then put together in Silvercup Studios in Queens. All of the iconic apartments featured in Sex And The City were made this way.
So, if you want to visit the apartment’s interior, you’re out of luck. Every single time a new part of the Sex And The City franchise came to life, they had to rebuild Carrie’s apartment. If you ask us, that’s a shame, but it’s still the way things were.
So while you might be able to visit the front of Carrie’s “apartment,” the truth is that the interior is nothing like what you saw on Sex And The City. Instead, the real 64 Perry Street building is a gorgeous five-story building with five bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a legitimate backyard—a rarity in a place like New York.
The Italian-style townhouse is considered a major tourist attraction among fans of the show, and rightfully so. Sex And The City turned it into a famous location that symbolizes all the excitement of a New York City artist’s life.
Why Did Carrie’s Apartment Look So Rough?
When the set designers were tasked with making the sets, they did so with each of the girl’s personalities in mind. Carrie is a writer and is a heavily creative personality. Creatives are not necessarily the tidiest people on the planet.
Carrie’s apartment was made to reflect the “rough and tumble” of life in a big city as a writer. It also was meant to show Carrie’s creative streak, as well as the slightly wild streak everyone’s favorite fashionista has.
Where Did Carrie Bradshaw Get Her Furniture?
Did you ever notice how much of her furniture seemed to be a little extra worn out? It was not a mistake on the designers’ end. Rather, it was fully intentional. Carrie Bradshaw is a sex columnist for a magazine, and that means that living in the Upper East Side was a serious budget stretch for her.
To reflect a more reasonable budget for her lifestyle, the designers added secondhand furniture that was really from a thrift shop. This added the realism that people loved about the show, though virtually every other aspect of the apartment was unrealistic.
How Much Does Carrie Bradshaw’s Apartment Cost?
This might be the most disheartening part of the whole Sex And The City research session we’ve had. In the series, Carrie lived in a rent-controlled apartment on the Upper East Side. Canonically, she paid only $700 a month in rent—a number that would have been totally unheard of by most peoples’ standards.
In reality, an apartment as big as Carrie’s is not going to be given to anyone for under $1,000, even if it’s rent-controlled. According to the most recent estimates, an apartment like Carrie's would cost at least $3,000 per month...if it actually existed.
Could Carrie Bradshaw Really Afford Her Apartment?
Let’s be honest, even if Carrie’s apartment was rent-stabilized, there’s no way that she would be paying $700 for more than a closet in Midtown. Modern estimates put the price range of that apartment size closer to $3,000, but the actual price of 64 Perry Street is insanely high.
Due to the fame that the building accrued, the actual place at 64 Perry Street has a pretty storied background. Only three different families ever owned the property since it was first erected in the mid 19th century. However, it did sell in 2012 to a new family for $13.3 million, giving us a base idea of its value.
To afford a typical payment for a house this expensive, Miss Bradshaw would have to make approximately $1.2 million per year. Moreover, Carrie’s taste in clothing probably tacks on an extra $50,000 to that price tag alone.
The bottom line? Carrie Bradshaw would need serious help from Mr.Big in order to afford an apartment like that one.
Carrie Bradshaw Apartment Address
Carrie Bradshaw's apartment address is 64 Perry Street. Believe it or not, Carrie Bradshaw's address, 64 Perry Street, isn’t just famous as a Sex And The City hotspot. Woody Allen famously filmed some scenes for Alice in and around the building here during the 1990s, shortly before the TV series aired.
That’s not the only fashiony fact about this home that might make SATC fans salivate. The top floor of 64 Perry also used to be the home of Tim Gunn. Many fans might recognize his name from the series Project Runway.
Currently, the apartment building is inhabited by a number of different people—all of whom have made an effort to stay low-key and anonymous, considering the rubbernecking that people do around the apartment’s vicinity.
Can You Visit Carrie Bradshaw's Apartment Today?
Yes, you can visit Carrie Bradshaw's Sex and the City apartment today. You just have to head to 64 Perry Street in the West Village. But we’ll be honest with you, the neighbors likely don't appreciate it, even though they were warned of the tourism when they bought the place. The problem was so pervasive tour busses actually had to be told to stop driving by the area due to the sheer harassment people faced from tourists asking for a tour of the home.
However, that doesn’t mean people are now allowed to pose near the landmark. People from around the world still come by the building just so that they can get a shot of themselves in front of Carrie’s apartment. It’s aesthetic. Carrie Bradshaw would definitely understand, don’t you think?
Carrie Bradshaw Apartment Bottom Line
Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment might be one of the most famous fashion hotspots in New York City. It’s a shame that it doesn’t really exist in its entirety. However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t parts that made the Big Apple home.
Sure, you might never be able to walk through the “apartment” the way that Carrie and Samantha did, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pose at 64 Perry or channel that same decoration energy at home.