Discover the Historic Gilded Age Mansion Featured in Marty Supreme
The Josh Safdie-directed film has received nine Academy Award nominations, including for Best Production Design
Marty Supreme, an A24 sports comedy-drama directed by Josh Safdie, stars Timothée Chalamet as the fictional Marty Mauser, an ambitious table tennis player who seeks to become a world champion. In one particularly unforgettable scene, Chalamet’s character receives a spanking—with a ping pong paddle—from businessman Milton Rockwell, portrayed by Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary. The unexpected filming location for this scene is none other than a Gilded Age mansion commissioned by five-and-dime pioneer F. W. Woolworth, located on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Located at 6 East 80th Street, this historic home is one of three adjacent townhouses Woolworth commissioned for each of his three daughters; this particular home was gifted to Jessie May Woolworth Donohue, the youngest. In Marty Supreme, it is portrayed as the home of characters portrayed by O’Leary and Gwyneth Paltrow.
According to the film’s production designer, Jack Fisk, the townhouse was built around 1915 and was designed by architect Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert. In 1986, collector and philanthropist Frederick R. Koch purchased and restored the townhouse, with the help of architect Charles T. Young. Following Koch’s death in 2020, 6 East 80th Street was bequeathed to the FRK Foundation for the purpose of hosting private and cultural events for groups such as The American Friends of the Georgian Group.
For Marty Supreme, the interiors were only altered when necessary. “We exchanged some furniture in a few rooms because it was fragile or priceless,” explains Fisk. However, “the tone of the home did not change. We also covered some constructed towers to hold a grid for interior lighting in three large rooms because we could not fasten anything to the walls. The towers were disguised to match the walls next to them.”
This particular townhouse was chosen for the film because no other location matched what Fisk and his team were looking for. “We looked at many apartments, but this was the only building,” says Fisk. “Nothing we saw compared to the Woolworth house for our needs.” He adds, “We needed a home for Gwyneth Paltrow’s character that showcased power, wealth, and was in extreme contrast to Marty’s humble Lower East Side tenement.”
