When an apartment or penthouse isn't big enough for wealthy New Yorkers, they get creative.
In recent years, several have combined multiple townhouses or building floors to create supersized homes — or Frankenmansions, as New York magazine's S. Jhoanna Robledo calls them.
To construct these Frankenmansions, some prospective buyers purchase multiple buildings at once, while others approach their neighbors to offer multimillion-dollar buyouts. (In either scenario, they need the city's approval before combining properties.)
Check out these 12 Manhattan Frankenmansions owned by big names — including Madonna and Sarah Jessica Parker — outlined below in red.
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Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Frankenmansion is nearly complete.
Bloomberg has bought five of the six apartment units in the building next to his 7,500-square-foot townhouse over the last three decades. After connecting four units in 2009, he grew his home to 12,500 square feet, according to the New York Post. The buildings are steps from Central Park.
A $19.8 million pair of townhouses is currently on the market.
The Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, an NYC-based convent of nuns, acquired the townhome on the right in 1948. Four years later, the group bought the one next door and connected them via a doorway on each floor.
Throughout the years, the order has rented some of the complex's 25 bedrooms to other congregations or young women in need. But the Frankenmansion may soon find a new owner — the 15,600-square-foot space went on the market in 2016 for $19.8 million, according to The New York Times.
Sarah Jessica Parker lives in a pair of twin townhouses worth $34.5 million.
The star of "Sex and the City"snatched the two brick townhouses above from the nonprofit United Methodist Women, then fused them. The organization listed the pair of buildings (which were not connected) for $44 million in 2016, but Parker paid $34.5 million, according to The Real Deal.
The 13,900-square-foot mansion includes nine bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a 2,100-square-foot private garden, and five floors.
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