Twenty-five years later, we’re still asking the important questions: How did Carrie Bradshaw afford that apartment? How did she afford all those apartments? Our favorite fictional columnist has had more addresses than she’s had serious boyfriends, and her apartment taste has been far more consistent than her dating choices.
Whether she was typing away at her laptop in a rent-controlled brownstone or walking the marble halls of a Fifth Avenue penthouse, Carrie’s homes have been as central to her character development as her Manolo collection. Each move marked a new chapter: the struggling writer years, the relationship upgrade phase, the Big wife era, and now, the independent woman who can afford her own Gramercy Park key.
Here’s every address where Carrie has stored her designer shoe collection.
Pilot Episode Apartment
Before Carrie became the Carrie we know and love, she was living in a studio apartment above a coffee shop at 960 Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side. The apartment was cluttered, cramped, and completely relatable: a pull-out sofa bed adorned with Chinese takeout containers, magazines scattered everywhere (including the radiator), and a fireplace niche that housed a cart overflowing with dirty laundry. With gray satin bedding, patterned drapery, and quirky lamps, it had character but no staying power. This apartment housed Carrie before her column took off, and was only seen in the pilot episode.
Upper East Side Brownstone
After the pilot, Carrie moved into the apartment that became a character within itself and defined Sex and the City: the fictional 245 East 73rd Street home for which she paid $700 a month (today, it would be around $4,000 without rent control). The 600-square-foot junior one-bedroom became her anchor through six seasons, two movies, and into And Just Like That....It featured muted green walls, Carrie’s iconic walk-through closet, and her perfectly positioned writing desk by the window. When her building went co-op, Aidan bought the apartment for them as a couple, but after their breakup, Charlotte offered Carrie her engagement ring to help buy the place back.
The exterior shots were filmed at 64 Perry Street for the first three seasons, then shifted next door to 66 Perry Street for the remainder of the series. The interiors of the apartment, created by set designer Jeremy Conway, were built on a soundstage at Silvercup Studios in Queens.
Fifth Avenue Apartment
When Carrie and Mr. Big finally got together for good, Carrie also snagged his (big) luxury penthouse. The 6,000-square-foot apartment had 16 rooms, including five bedrooms, five bathrooms, two powder rooms, and a walk-in closet, all with views of the Metropolitan Museum and Central Park. It was also the site of Big’s tragic heart attack after a Peloton workout in the first episode of And Just Like That…
While the exterior shots were filmed at 1010 Fifth Avenue, the interior scenes were reportedly shot at the William Ziegler Mansion at 2 East 63rd Street. The 5-foot-wide mansion was originally built in 1921 for William Ziegler Jr., heir to the Royal Banking Powder Company fortune. It later belonged to Norman Bailey Woolworth and was donated to The New York Academy of Sciences in 1949 before being purchased by billionaire financier Leonard Blavatnik for $31.25 million in 2005.
Tribeca Loft
Fresh off Big’s shocking death, Carrie did what any rational widow would do—bought a completely impractical downtown loft with her grief money. The sleek, ultra-modern space with Hudson River reviews was like a rebound relationship: shiny, new, and absolutely wrong for her.
The glassy downtown loft, complete with a persistent mystery beep that drove her crazy, was Carrie’s home for just 24 hours before she put the multi-million dollar pad back on the market and retreated back uptown to her emotional support apartment, where she could properly grieve.
According to the And Just Like That… companion podcast, the Tribeca condo never actually even existed. It was built entirely on a soundstage, with the river views created using green screens.
Gramercy Park Townhouse
By season two of And Just Like That…, Carrie sold her beloved Upper East Side apartment and purchased a Greek Revival townhouse at 3 Gramercy Park West. She bought it primarily for Aidan and his three sons, as he couldn’t bring himself to enter her old apartment due to painful memories of their past breakups, but kept it after their relationship imploded.
The red brick townhouse is an actual building, built in 1840, with cast iron lacework that make it instantly recognizable. It’s currently configured as luxury rentals, with a parlor floor that Carrie uses in the show recently listed at $13,000 per month for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit, while the penthouse recently sold for $5 million.
The exterior got a television glow-up with white doors (upgraded from brown), ornate details, and cascading purple flowers adorning the windows, while the interior of the apartment was built on a soundstage. It’s peak Carrie: emotionally complicated, financially questionable, but fabulous, and we’re eager to see more of it in season three.
Julia Cancilla is the engagement editor (and resident witch) at ELLE Decor, where she oversees the brand’s social media platforms, covers design trends and culture, and writes the monthly ELLE Decoroscope column. Julia built her background at Inked magazine, where she grew their social media audiences by two million and penned feature articles focusing on pop culture, art, and lifestyle.
