Prouve Prefab Tropical House on Stilts Sells for $4.97 Million

La Maison Tropicale, a movable metal house on stilts by French modernist designer Jean Prouve, sold for $4.97 million last night at Christie's International in New York, more than twice the price per area of a Park Avenue apartment.

The graceful yet industrial-looking green-and-yellow house cost $5,028 per square foot for 988 square feet of usable space. It had a presale estimate of $4 million to $6 million. The seller was French dealer Eric Touchaleaume.

"I just love Prouve,'' said tanned hotelier Andre Balazs who bought the house and said he hasn't decided what he will do with it. Of one thing was he certain: ``It belongs back in the tropics.''

The 1950-51 residence set a Prouve auction record, topping the $680,000 paid in 2004 at Sotheby's for a pair of green steel doors with the designer's signature porthole windows.