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Greenwich

Northwood, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates


This estate on around 4.25 acres in Greenwich, Connecticut looks like one of the area's older homes but it was built just a few years ago. Classic Tudor styling and the use of reclaimed materials give this home a vintage look (although the use of ornate floor mosaics does give it away as a more recent build). The home opens into a 40-foot turret entry foyer with sweeping staircase and an antique balustrade. There is a gourmet Clive Christian kitchen and large family room with coffered ceiling. The expansive library welcomes guests with a 19th century bar. The reception area leads to a formal dining room and grand living room with French doors. Amid all the nods to older styling, this house is also up to date with the latest technology, it has a smart house system with Crestron system advantage lighting. This eight-bedroom property is listed at $15.9 million.

Gallery: Northwood

Connecticut's Poshest Private Landscapes

Filed under: Decor, Estates, Green, Books


Twenty-eight of Connecticut's most entrancing private landscapes are featured in a beautiful new book from Monacelli Press. Private Gardens of Connecticut offers a privileged glimpse at the personal oases at the estates of designer Oscar de la Renta, socialite Anne Bass, decorator Bunny Williams and many more. Included are gardens from all across the state, from Greenwich to New Canaan and the coast, many of which have never been professionally photographed. A variety of styles is represented from formal to small, contemporary, wild, and old fashioned. Some, like de la Renta's (on the cover above) are grand in scale and tended by an army of skilled professionals, others modest and easily kept, but all alluring and extremely enviable. Throughout the oversized volume author Jane Garmey recounts the story of the creation of the leafy retreats while John Hall's lavish photographs of sumptuous flowers and luxuriant foliage make them leap off the page.

Point of View, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates



Greenwich, Connecticut has a new top listed real estate property. The market in the tony town is now crowned by Point of View, a six-bedroom waterfront estate on over four acres with views overlooking Long Island Sound. The property also has a four-bedroom carriage house and the very unusual detail of a 175-foot suspension bridge that extends to a stone pier. The bridge was designed by John Roebling, the engineer who created the Brooklyn Bridge.

The home was built in 1903 and as listing pictures show, the home is full of the art of the former owners, the late Norman and Suzanne Hascoe. The Hascoes' collection of Czech modernist art, Old Master paintings and historic furniture will be auctioned off by Sotheby's early next year. The stone residences is on 340 feet of shoreline. Features include a 35-foot-high, marble-floored atrium gallery. A semi-circular, window-walled living room makes the most of the views and library/gallery spaces are arranged on the main and garden levels. Another truly amazing space is the natatorium/ballroom with an elaborate mosaic floor that lowers with the touch of a button to transform into the indoor swimming pool. This home is listed at $42.5 million.

Gallery: Point of View



[via the Wall Street Journal]

Classic '70s Country Club Polos by Boast Reborn

Filed under: Apparel, Sports, Men's Style


Boast, the iconic, exclusive polo shirt brand founded in 1973 by Bill St. John, the tennis pro at Greenwich, Connecticut's famed Field Club, is being relaunched this month with a modern spin. Boast polos, featuring the notorious Japanese Maple leaf logo which many assumed to be a pot leaf, were originally sold only by Saint John from the back of his station wagon at country clubs across the Northeast. He designed the shirts in homage to the rebellious tennis stars of the day like John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, the intentional pot leaf confusion adding a subversive touch.

Now John Dowling and Alexander Tiger, major racquet sports devotees and longtime fans of Boast, have revived the brand and updated the fabric and fit of the shirts, and are making them available outside country club pro shops for the first time. Dowling and Tiger have brought in Jack Spade designer Andy Spade's creative studio Partners & Spade to help breathe new life into the brand. The super soft and durable Boast pique cotton polo, offered in a range of colors in a classic fit, is now available for $68 via BoastUSA.com. There's also a beautifully hand-tailored navy blazer with eye-catching details for $1,200.

Gallery: Boast Reborn

Will Dunnellen Hall Finally Sell?

Filed under: Estates


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.

Mel Gibson's Old Mill Farm Sold For More Than $5 Million Under List Price

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

mel gibsonBack in April we learned that Mel Gibson had sold Old Mill Farm, his 75-acre Greenwich estate. Now the Greenwich Time has news on the price. The home sold for nearly $24 million after spending three years on the market. We first saw this property hit the market in 2007 for $39.5 million. At the sale time the listing price had been carved down to $29.75 million. He bought the property in 1994 for $9.3 million.

According to town records the new buyer is Cosette Property LLC. No information is available on the company but this could be a trust for a buyer who wants to remain hidden. The paper says that the highest-priced residential transaction this year in Greenwich was the $31.4 million sale of a mansion on 22 acres at 30 John St., bought by a company that lists Tommy Hilfiger as its principal. That property was our estate of the day back in April and was listed for $33 million. Hilfiger sold another Greenwich home last fall for $20 million. That one was listed at $27.9 million when it was our estate of the day back in 2008.

Old Mill Farm is a design by architect Charles Lewis Bowman built in 1926 for his horse-loving client, G.L. Ohrstrom. The home is one of the last great manor homes in Greenwich and is significant not just for the architecture but for the fact that it has 77 acres of land. The home itself is an Elizabethan-inspired Tudor mansion of 15,800 square feet and the property has 15 bedrooms and 18 bathrooms total. The jaw-dropping room of the place is the great hall which has a 40-foot cathedral ceiling with a stone minstrel's gallery, walk-in fireplace and leaded glass ceilings. The grounds, which were done by landscape designer James Doyle, include formal gardens and a maze. There is also a terrace pool, tennis court, greenhouse, stable, staff houses, log cabin and a pond on the property.

Gibson's Lavender Hill Farm in Malibu remains on the market at $14.5 million.

Modern in Greenwich, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates


Although it's been three years since I checked out an Ulrich Franzen house, I knew that this Greenwich, Connecticut house had a familiar look. Some architects carry their mark into every home. Several of Franzen's homes look like giant oceanliners steaming over the landscape. This 1992 home is on seven acres overlooking a lake. The most striking feature of the home is a large two-story glass atrium. The interior is spare and modern with concrete, granite and marble. The five-bedroom home also an elevator, an indoor pool, media, exercise and billiard rooms. Outside a granite terrace surrounds a Shoreline pool with cabana and faces an illuminated tennis court. There is also a two-bedroom guest cottage and ample garage. It is listed at $13 million.

RSVIP: Warhol Muse Sachiko Goodman Opens Her Greenwich Estate to Bruce Museum Patrons

Filed under: Events


In bucolic Greenwich, Connecticut, attractive women, meticulously restored estates, and top wines miraculously improve with age.

Japanese-born beauty Sachiko Goodman, the legendary real estate agent, and her husband, Lawrence, a retired businessman and philanthropist, opened Hickory Hill, their storied estate in the Belle Haven section of Greenwich, Connecticut, for the Annual Bruce Museum Patron Party on Thursday, May 20. The event toasted the Renaissance ball benefiting the Bruce Museum, which takes place on June 5 this year and is generally considered a centerpiece of the Greenwich social swim.

On a pillared terrace, an exacting chef assisted by a woman in traditional Japanese dress fills boats with fresh sushi. Past the kitchen and down a thin, modernist corridor, in an open white space, hang multiple Warhol images of Sachiko Goodman. "They were my birthday present when I was 30 years old," says Mrs. Goodman, wearing a white Givenchy safari dress and appearing equally as fresh as in the renderings on the wall. "But I was never pleased with the way my face looked, so I never really wanted to display them until just recently."

Goodman describes her dear, now late friend, Andy Warhol, who would become so very famous. "I just loved him as a person," she says. "He was a very shy guy, a little weird but very nice. He was very good to my daughter. Every time he visited me, in this house or my previous home in Greenwich, he always brought sweet gifts."

And did Warhol take Polaroid images of her to create the portraits? "I have hundreds of them," answers Goodman. "I keep them in an album. Now that I'm older, possibly more mature, I appreciate that I'm very, very lucky to have these things."

Greenwich Deep-Water Estate, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates


Most real estate agents know enough not to photograph a house when it is decorated for Christmas. It only works if you've got a picturesque snowy cabin to sell and think it will move during the season when our hearts our filled with cheer. But that's not all that seems off about this home in Greenwich, Connecticut. The good news is that it is situated perfectly with direct Long Island Sound views. The bad news is that this home appears to have been left back in the 1980s when it was built. Gilding, vertical blinds, mirrored walls and curious bits of abstract art give the impression of a home that is in need of being brought forward a decade or two. The home opens with bronze front doors and a two story foyer featuring a marble "waterfall" wall and a koi pond.Floor to ceiling glass walls showcase the view. The paneled library/media room has a viewing screen which emerges from the ceiling. The property includes a separate two-bedroom apartment, seaside pool, poolhouse and private beach. It is listed at $22 million.
* Web #: 0065027

Round Hill, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates


Now that Mel Gibson's Old Mill Farm finally sold we need a new Greenwich, Connecticut classic to obsess over. Presented for your consideration is this great estate, a pre-war French Normandy with views of the New York City skyline and Long Island Sound. The home has two double-gated driveways that lead you through the 22 acre property passing by rolling lawns, boxwood gardens, rose and flower gardens and even a stone lion on the way to the large main house. But here alas is where our journey ends, that's right, this $33 million listing doesn't have a single inside picture. The listing description tells of classically scaled rooms, leaded glass, French doors, carved motifs and a circular stairway. The eight bedroom home has a master suite with dual bedrooms and dressing rooms, a kitchen with breakfast room, butler and service pantries, billiard, exercise and media rooms. The property has both indoor and outdoor pools, gazebos and a greenhouse with a fireplace. The listing calls it "a must see for anyone who wants the best." I just want to see inside!

[Thanks, James!]

Mel Gibson Finally Sells Old Mill Farm

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

mel gibsonIt took almost three years but Mel Gibson's Greenwich, Connecticut home, Old Mill Farm, may have finally sold. The Stamford Advocate points out that the contract was reported on the Greenwich Multiple Listing Service Tuesday. No details on the buyer or a selling price are available. When the estate hit the market in 2007 it was listed at $39.5 million but cut the price last year to $29.75 million.

Old Mill Farm is a design by architect Charles Lewis Bowman built in 1926 for his horse-loving client, G.L. Ohrstrom. The home is one of the last great manor homes in Greenwich and is significant not just for the architecture but for the fact that it has 77 acres of land. The home itself is an Elizabethan-inspired Tudor mansion of 15,800 square feet and the property has 15 bedrooms and 18 bathrooms total. The jaw-dropping room of the place is the great hall which has a 40-foot cathedral ceiling with a stone minstrel's gallery, walk-in fireplace and leaded glass ceilings. The grounds, which were done by landscape designer James Doyle, include formal gardens and a maze. There is also a terrace pool, tennis court, greenhouse, stable, staff houses, log cabin and a pond on the property.

One thing that might not be going along with the property is the mural in the dining room. A sharp-eyed commenter recently pointed out that the Maxfield Parrish painting Sing a Song of Six Pence which is shown in the dining room in these listing pictures from Sotheby's Realty is set to be auctioned off for an estimated $2.5-3.5 million next month.

One of Gibson's other properties, his Lavender Hill Farm in Malibu, remains on the market for $14.5 million.

[Thanks, James]

Connecticut Colonial, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates


You don't get much more classic Colonial than this house in Greenwich, Connecticut. The five-bedroom home was built in 1950 and is set on 1.3 acres that include a heated pool with a surrounding bluestone terrace. The home has cozily formal public spaces on the main floor including a living room with a fireplace, den, music room, kitchen room and breakfast area and a large sunroom with three exposures. The master suite has a fireplace and private deck, his and hers dressing rooms and baths. There is a sunny playroom and exercise room on third floor. This home is listed at $4.5 million.

Real Estate Guru Has High hopes For Greenwich Digs

Filed under: Estates


Starwood Hotels & Resorts veteran Barry Sternlicht is looking for real estate to surge in Greenwich, Connecticut. The wealthy New York City suburb got spanked over the past year as the city's financial industry gurus saw their bonuses jobs disappear and flooded the market with ostentatious homes on the market at a time when buyers were few and far between. A year later, Sternlicht thinks this town is ready to stage a comeback.

Sternlicht just raised the asking price on his 5.8 acre estate in Greenwich to $5.95 million, even though the local market is about to finish its worst year in the past 30. Jean Ruggiero, Sternlicht's real estate broker, said he pushed up the asking price because "we felt like we were giving it away." People showed some interest in the home, and the fact that other sellers were cutting prices didn't mean that Sternlicht had to follow. "Just because people are lowering their price doesn't mean it's right, because he's not a desperate seller, "Ruggiero said of Sternlicht.

The new number is 8.3 percent higher than the $5.495 million Sternlicht previously asked, even though prices for single-family homes in Greenwhich dropped 40 percent year-to-date.

Originally, the home was put on the market at $8.25 million in June 2008, and it was cut three times from September 2008 to April 2009. It boasts a tennis and shuffleboard court, pool and guest house ... and is of course gated.

Even at $5.95 million, Sternlicht will come out ahead. He bought the place in November 1994 for a mere $2.93 million.


Oldfield Farm, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates


There's still plenty of money in Greenwich, Connecticut. Today's estate, at nearly $40 million isn't even the top listing in the market (that honor still belongs to Dunellen Hall at $60 million). Oldfield Farm looks nearly modest by comparison but the equestrian estate reflects the kind of horsey set luxury the town is known for. The home has a pool, tennis court, stables and groom's quarters. The estate spread over 20 pastoral manicured acres which border land trust land. The curving driveway snakes through acres of green pastures ending in front of the winged horse fountain at the front of the home. The 20,000+/- sq ft Palladian-style villa brings together modern conveniences with just a touch of fustiness shown in traditional choices in wallpaper and curtains. This home is listed at $39.5 million.

Gallery: Oldfield Farm




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Dunnellen Hall Price Dropped Another $15 Million

Filed under: Estates


Leona Helmsley's Greenwich estate, Dunnellen Hall is now under the 50 percent off mark. The estate which first hit the market for $125 million has gone tumbling down the entire time it has been on the market. Last we looked it was at $75 million. But a kind gentleman let me know that the home has now been reduced to $60 million.

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. How low will it go? Rumor has it that the home will require a lot of work to transform it back into a showplace.

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