The new listing of a tower duplex at River House for $25.5 million by Brown Harris Stevens this week might seem to have been inspired by my Unreal Estate column on the building in this month’s Avenue Magazine, but in truth, it’s come on the market because its owner, Betty Evans, just died. Hers happens to be the only River House apartment I ever visited. She was a niece of Julia Loomis Thorne who, with her husband Landon, were two of the most fascinating characters ever to inhabit 740 Park, the subject of my 2005 book. Evans was one of my best sources for the Thorne pages, so I was disappointed when she didn’t answer my call for a quote for the Avenue column. Now, of course, I understand why she didn’t. And if I had anything to do with the decision to price her former home at twice the going rate for a River House unit, hurray. As I said in Avenue, it, like many of the great Manhattan co-ops, is seriously underpriced in this condomania moment. UPDATE: The wonderful folks at The New York Observer gave this piece some link love.