Will Dunnellen Hall Finally Sell?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Aug 30th 2010 at 10:24AM

Could one of the country's most extravagant and expensive homes finally be sold? The NY Post says that Dunnellen Hall in Greenwich, Connecticut is at the contract stage. Leona Helmsley's former home first hit the market in 2008 for an astounding $125 million. Price cut after price cut followed until it hit $60 million. The NY Post's source revealed that the home may sell to a mystery buyer for under $55 million. The listing still appears on the David Oglivy & Associates website.

The traditional brick mansion is approximately 23,0000 square feet with seven upstairs bedroom suites, a glass-walled music room, a wood- paneled library with a 15th century fireplace mantel, formal dining room, family room with a bar and much more. The back wing is home to the staff area which has six bedrooms. The indoor pool has four exposures and includes areas for sitting and changing. There is also a 75-foot outdoor pool with a terrace and a cabana with a kitchen. There are also brick cottages with an additional six bedrooms total. The Helmsleys bought Dunnellen Hall in 1983 for $9 million (paying an extra $2 million for the furniture) and later picked up another 14 acres bringing the total to 40 acres.

The sale will be a boon for the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, which supports health care and medical research. We've heard from those who have visited the home that it is in a state of disrepair and will cost millions to fix. The Post article echoes that saying that it has a leaky roof and other problems. It also has astounding property taxes, a total of $183,000 a year according to the Post. The MLS lists the most expensive piece of property on the market in Greenwich right now as a 27-acre piece of property that is "contiguous to and once part of the great estate, Dunnellen Hall" for $39 million.

Gallery: Dunnellen Hall

Tags: connecticut real estate, dunnellen hall, Greenwich, Leona Helmsley

Filed under: Estates

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Spectacular Bid Aug 30th 2010 1:13PM

re: the aerial photo

Is it just me or is that massive forecourt with the ugly black ribbon of asphalt just ugly as can be? I really don't see why it couldn't be properly done in natural or darker pea stone or a cobble stone. Further the addition on the rear facade of what likely is an indoor pool just was a hack job with it making for an ugly appendage. Why some people make their private homes look so institutional and more akin to a hotel is beyond me.

Having seen it previously the manor pre-Helmsley was far more Tudor correct and regal. It's ironic that after all the work done on the manor - and billed to their hotels for which that fraud resulted in Leona's jail time - it still has repair issues.

cc Aug 30th 2010 6:32PM

wow are you wishing you owned this home.............. loser never made real money in your life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

al schrader Aug 30th 2010 7:37PM

Lots of ice cold stone & dreery dark walled rooms. And it's in the middle of no-where. Where are the secret passages that lead to the dungeon ? I can almost hear the screams in the back ground. Combine this with 6 months a year of snow & I wouldn't live there for free. Looks like every estate I ever saw in a horror film...

ifuseekamy Aug 31st 2010 8:07AM

OMG you snob, pull the pole out of your butt. Who cares what you think about the driveway? It wasn't done so that YOU would like it!!! Oh and you WISH you had a spectacular bird!

BTDT Aug 31st 2010 11:27AM

Imagine what it costs to heat this place.

Anne Aug 31st 2010 1:27PM

I haven't seen the mansion pre-Helmsley, but from what I see from these pictures, I feel you're absolutely correct. If the architechure is specific, such as Tudor, you don't deviate and try to make it something else. This manor has nothing appealing about it; it has a very cold, sterile feeling about it. A hotel has more warmth but then again, it probably reflects Leona's personality.

al schrader Aug 31st 2010 3:55PM

Correct me if I'm wrong, but why does Steve Jobs look like an unkempt, unshaven, homeless guy ?

tara white Aug 30th 2010 4:09PM

just because you have money doesnt mean you have style and/or class.

David S. Aug 30th 2010 5:17PM

The inside is gaudy and institutional. But then Leona Helmsley lived there. I'm guessing she had plenty of closet space for her shoes in this insitution -- I mean, er, home.

Anne Plutt Aug 30th 2010 5:35PM

Maybe this is why she was so mean and why she billed all the repairs and renovations to the hotel chain. It looks like a hotel, feels like a hotel and reeks of what I would expect in decor from Leona. Tacky, overdone and COLD.

june Aug 30th 2010 5:38PM

Please, please let me redecorate... it looks like someone got fooled into thinking that the interior looks good. I really doesn't...

Capwhan Aug 30th 2010 5:55PM

Hard to believe someone would want to live there. Oh wait,
I forgot about a rapper. It would suit them just fine.

CHARLE Aug 30th 2010 6:01PM

This number of 125 million is really not accurate. The real price 3 years ago was about 75 million. The agent who eventually did the listing overpriced it at 125 million and that is why it sat for so long. 125 million was a highly inflated number. Also there are a lot restrictions that make the land less valuable for development. 55 million as a selling price is appropriate.

bowen Aug 30th 2010 6:47PM

Since Leona Helmsley left everything to her puppy, I think she should turn it into an exclusive home for wayward dogs..All the dogs that are thrown into the highway from the Hamptons after the season is over, should reside there.I think they would like that.Full staff,beautiful gardens,and a swimming pool for the pooches..Can anyone out there donate this mansion to the needy?

Mel Aug 30th 2010 6:49PM

What normal person would want to live in a house like this?! No friends would come over, because they'd feel like they couldn't just kick back and relax. Course, this DID belong to Leona Helmsley, and near as I can tell, she didn't have many friends, if any at all. I guess rich people like to flaunt their wealth and sacrifice comfort and tranquility. Keep your expansive, gaudy, sterile mansions... I'll take a normal-sized, charming home with personality any day.