Passed Over for Top Legg Mason Job, Ron Dewhurst Takes His $6.2 M. and Goes to the West Village

Ron Dewhurst may just have left global investment management firm Legg Mason after being passed over for the top spot, but he isn’t letting his new-found (f)unemployment get him down: the former banker just picked up a $6.2 million townhouse in the West Village according to city records.

Mr. Dewhurst’s new digs at 49 Barrow Street, just off Seventh Avenue, may not be as pricey as his Melbourne mansion, which in 2012 was the city’s highest sale at nearly $17 million (in Australian dollars), but it still has quite the pedigree. Built in 1826, when the Village was still a village and a destination for those seeking to flee the yellow fever epidemic that was ravaging the city proper, the house was given a makeover in the ’80s by architectural firm SITE. (New Yorkers may know them best for the Shake Shack they designed for Madison Square Park, whereas Mumbaikars might recognize them as the original designers of Antilia, a single-family skyscraper built for Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man.)

“To increase the interior space,” the designers wrote of 49 Barrow, “an area under the back yard was excavated and the garden and patio are elevated to form the roof of this addition.” The renovation was done for designer and seller Laurie Mallet, who went into business with Willi Smith in the ’70s and later founded sock-maker Ozone Design.

“I personally love the quirkiness of the added sculptures and the whimsical detail that [Ms. Mallet] had created,” Danny Davis, who brokered the sale with Town Residential, told The Observer. “I also love the incredible amount of natural sunlight,” he added, along with “the garden with the huge magnolia tree.” (The home was originally listed for nearly $6.5 million.)

Now that Mr. Dewhurst is no longer employed here in the States, he’ll likely use the townhouse as something halfway between a pied-à-terre and a primary residence, The Observer learned. We’re not sure where he and his family will be spending most of their time, but they could be returning to Australia.

Perhaps Mr. Dewhurst will even take up his old passion: coaching. He coached Australian sprinter Raelene Boyle to a Commonwealth Games gold medal (that’s like the Olympics, for people who have Stockholm Syndome-like feelings towards their former colonial overlord).