Spike Lee keen to double his money on mansion sale

Director Spike Lee has placed his New York City mansion on the market for $32 million - almost double the price he paid for it.

The Do The Right Thing filmmaker and his wife Tonya purchased the historic town house in Manhattan's Upper East Side from artist Jasper Johns in 1998 for $16.6 million , but they are now preparing to move and are keen to make a nice profit from the sale, according to the New York Post.

The landmarked home, which was built in 1916 and boasts an internal courtyard with a fountain, has a storied past - one of its previous owners was famed burlesque stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, who was known for throwing wild parties at the pad, which she lived in for three decades until her death in 1970.