Photos via Sotheby's International Realty
The Peace House at 166 Avenue A between 10th Street and 11th Street, the longtime home and studio of artist and activist Anton van Dalen, has hit the market for $6.95 million, The New York Times first reported on Friday.
The four-story townhouse has been a neighborhood fixture for decades, thanks in part to the word "PEACE" painted across its facade.
Van Dalen, who died in June 2024 at age 85, lived and worked in the building for more than 50 years.
He and his wife, Rebecca Mays Owen, purchased the property in 1972 with the Schneider family, who were also tenants at the time.
The two families turned the building into a gathering place for artists, writers and other creative neighbors.
Van Dalen's top-floor studio became the setting for much of his work documenting the changing East Village, including his "Avenue A Cut-Out Theater," a miniature recreation of the neighborhood and its characters.
The familiar PEACE inscription appeared in the early 1990s in response to the Persian Gulf War.
The van Dalen children and the Schneider family now list the property through Sotheby's International Realty.
According to the listing, the building includes three residential spaces, among them a garden-level duplex, a full-floor loft once occupied by glass artist Bill Schneider and an upper duplex that includes van Dalen's former studio.
The property also has a rear terrace and rooftop space where van Dalen once kept his flock of pigeons.
Much of the upper floors remains as van Dalen left them, with artwork and personal belongings still in place.
In the Times article, van Dalen's daughter, Marinda, described the sale as bittersweet but said it was in the financial interests of the families involved. She hopes the next owners will preserve the PEACE inscription, though she acknowledged that a buyer might want to modernize the property.
Another detail in the Times report caught the attention of at least one Avenue A resident: The property reportedly comes with approximately 4,258 square feet of unused development rights, according to PropertyShark.
"The air rights note at the bottom gives me pause," the resident told us. "Does someone buy it and enjoy it or a developer knock it down for condos?"
No indication suggests demolition or redevelopment is planned, and unused development rights do not necessarily mean the existing building will be replaced. Still, the detail raises questions about what a future owner might envision for the property.
For now, the Peace House remains one of the more distinctive reminders of an East Village shaped by artists, activists and longtime residents.
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