A Manhattan brownstone listed for $7.5 million spreads across 3 levels, has an open-air roof, and a working fireplace. Take a look inside.

Ling only really needed one floor for his architectural practice and his personal life, but couldn't resist the quaint 1920s home.

He ended up buying the property for $740,000 in 2000, per property listing records.

"I have a history of buying spaces that are larger than I need and then renting them out," Ling told Insider. And that's exactly what he did with the Manhattan home: Ling kept the first floor for his own use and leased the upper two levels out.

"I like the idea of sharing my space as a resource so that somebody else can use it and enjoy it too," Ling said.

Ling first listed the property for sale for $7.99 million in April last year, per listing history. It's been listed at $7.5 million since mid-March.

Stefania Cardinali, a real-estate agent with The Corcoran Group, holds the listing.

Houses in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan have a median listing home price of $1.9 million, per data from real estate platform Realtor.com. There are currentl 210 homes for sale in the area, with prices ranging from $369,000 to $14.9 million.

The $7.5 million loft is in the mid-price range.

For instance, the kitchen counter is inspired by the monolith in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey."

"My work is my life and my life is my work, so there's not a real sharp division between them," Ling told Insider.

Most of the furniture on the first story, like the built-in cabinets and tables, was made from timbers that he salvaged from the site of the home, Ling said.

They had been left behind by the previous occupants, who were artists under the Works Programme Administration (WPA) that President Franklin D. Roosevelt implemented during the Great Depression to help craftsmen find a living, he said.

"Two of those WPA artists bought the building and occupied it from the 1940s until I bought it," Ling said. "The wood was already there and we just refinished it. There was more labor involved, but we reused what we had, and so there was zero waste."

To create a contrast between the exposed brick and rough woodwork, Ling opted for a semi-reflective floor. He originally wanted to use aluminum, but opted for an acrylic mirror as it was less expensive, Ling said.

"I had it hand-sanded to give it a sort of matte but luminescent quality," Ling added. "When the light hits it, it also reflects on the ceiling and creates this splintering of light rays that gives me an aquatic feeling."

"Water is interesting because it really follows its own rules, about how it flows and how it reacts to light. All those things are kind of magical to me, so I really enjoy being around water," Ling said. "I think it has to do with the sound as well."

The waterfall can be turned on and off, and the volume of water can be adjusted with a series of valves, Ling said.

He doesn't use the waterfall all the time, and especially not during the summer when it's humid, Ling said.

"I mainly use it in the winter, or I'll turn it on when there's a party or something that I want to celebrate," Ling said. "In the winter when the humidity is low, I almost want that added humidity because your skin kind of dries out."

"I really just cleaned up and kept the original character of the second and third floor because they were going to be rented out," Ling said.

Ling says he knows that not everyone will agree with the way he chose to decorate his part of the home.

"It's not for everybody, but it's definitely for me," Ling said. "The ground floor is really my laboratory for ideas. I don't expect anybody to live like me, but I do feel that I have the right to live in my own world."

Ling's loft has been featured in a 2018 Netflix series titled "Amazing Interiors."

Apart from New York, Ling has an office in Florida too. He says that the reason he's selling the property now is because he is spending less time in New York.

"I'm also at a life stage where I don't need to have that much space. I've got two other properties, and I don't need to have that much stuff," Ling said.

Ling preferred to keep the rent amount private.

The property would be suitable for someone who enjoys being able to work from home and have a large space with interesting architectural elements, Ling said.

"An ideal buyer would hopefully appreciate the existing building and its character. I don't expect them to live the way I do, but that they understand where I'm coming from," Ling said. "Certainly somebody like me would be a good fit."

The building class and zoning rules allow for commercial and residential use, so the future owners have the option to create a mixed-use space too, Cardinali, the real-estate agent, told Insider.

Ling says he is aware that some people think his love for art dominated function.

"Although actually, I think it functions fine. I like to cook and the kitchen works well. I like to sleep and I don't have any abnormal sleep habits like falling out of bed," Ling added. "I think it's just a treat for my eyes. And after 23 years, I still love being in the space."