Rhinebeck

Astor Courts Fails To Sell At Auction

Filed under: Estates

In September we heard that the Astor Courts estate in Rhinebeck, New York, the property which hosted Chelsea Clinton's wedding, would be sold at auction. The was our estate of the day back in September 2009 and was listed for $12 million. Tranzon Asset Advisors, a national real estate auction firm, organized the auction in conjunction with H.H. Hill Realty Services of Rhinebeck, NY but the NY Post reports that the sealed-bid auction passed its October 14th deadline without yielding a buyer willing to pay above $7.5 million. The property is now back on the market with an $8.9 million list price.

The home was built at the turn of the century by John Jacob Astor, IV and his wife Ava. It was designed by Stanford White and was inspired by Louis XIV's Grand Trianon at Versailles, Astor Courts. The home was originally part of the Astor family's Ferncliff estate and Astor Courts (also known as the "Astor Casino" or "Ferncliff Casino") was designed as a guest lodge and sporting pavilion. The beautiful Beaux-Arts mansion was completed in 1904 and is on 50 acres. The expansive main living area has five bedrooms and spans over 15,000 square feet. The truly stunning details include the indoor clay tennis court topped with a glass ceiling and framed by Gothic arches and a white marble pool surrounded by arches and graced with a pale sky-blue ceiling.

In 1964 Brooke Astor gave the home to the Catholic Church. The current owners, real-estate developer Arthur Seelbinder and his wife, Kathleen Hammer, a former producer for Oxygen Media, bought the home in 2005 for $3.2 million and spent a fortune restoring it. Stanford White's great-grandson, Sam White led the restoration. The property is listed on the National Historic Register, and a Letter of Patent from New York State ensures access to the Hudson River in perpetuity and a Special Use Permit allows the property to be rented for corporate retreats, conferences and other functions.

Gallery: Astor Courts

Tags: astor courts, new york real estate, real estate auction, rhinebeck

Ralph Lauren Films at Astor Courts

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel, Estates, Men's Style, Video

It seems Ralph Lauren recently took over Astor Courts in Rhinebeck, New York, designed by Stanford White in 1904 for John Jacob Astor IV, to film videos for his new fall collections. We recognized the beautiful Beaux-Arts treasure, inspired by Louis XIV's Grand Trianon at Versailles, which was originally part of the Astor family's Ferncliff estate; Astor Courts (also known as the "Astor Casino" or "Ferncliff Casino") was designed as a guest lodge and sporting pavilion. Over the summer Astor Courts was in the news as the setting for Chelsea Clinton's wedding, and is currently up for auction having previously been listed for sale at $12 million. The structure's stunning details including grand fireplaces, elaborate moldings, an indoor clay tennis court framed by Gothic arches and a white marble swimming pool surrounded by Corinthian columns make a perfect backdrop for Lauren's luxurious designs in cashmere, wool, leather and silk. A couple of scenes were also shot at The Elms in Newport. The video for his Fall 2010 Purple Label collection (above) shows a stylish fellow driving off from the Astor estate in a vintage Aston Martin DB6 for a rendezvous with a beautiful woman. We think Stanford White would have approved.

Tags: Aston Martin, Astor Courts, Beaux-Arts, cashmere, estates, Hudson River, Hudson River Valley, Hudson Valley, mens style, New York, Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Rhinebeck, Stanford White

Assouline Fields Polo Team at the Ambassador's Cup

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events, Sports, Books

Last fall luxury imprint Assouline published the ultimate book on the aristocratic sport of polo. This season they went one step further and fielded a polo team of their own at the 71st Annual Ambassador's Cup at the Mashomack Polo Club near Rhinebeck in Dutchess County, New York. The imprint's founders Prosper Assouline and wife Martine (above) flew in from Paris to cheer on their players, dressed in matching Assouline polo team shirts. Matches took place Sept. 24 – 26 with representation from countries including Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hungary, Peru, Italy, Switzerland, and the United States. In addition to Assouline, other well known firms fielding teams in the event, run under the auspices of the Federation of International Polo (FIP), included Berluti shoes, Hunter boots, Hermes, Beretta, The Carlyle Hotel and Moncler, with the Hunter team emerging triumphant.

Gallery: Assouline Polo at the Ambassador's Cup

Tags: Assouline, Beretta, Berluti, books, Carlyle Hotel, coffee table books, equestrian, France, Hermes, horses, Hunter, Mashomack Polo Club, Moncler, New York, Paris, polo, Prosper Assouline, Rhinebeck, sports

Astor Courts To Be Sold At Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Over the summer the Astor Courts estate in Rhinebeck, New York was in the news for hosting Chelsea Clinton's wedding, now it is up for auction. The home has been up for sale for a while, it was our estate of the day back in September 2009 and was listed for $12 million. Tranzon Asset Advisors, a national real estate auction firm, is organizing the auction in conjunction with H.H. Hill Realty Services of Rhinebeck, NY. The auction is open to qualified, pre-registered bidders and will start with a sealed-bid process that has an October 14th deadline.

The home was built at the turn of the century by John Jacob Astor, IV and his wife Ava. It was designed by Stanford White and was inspired by Louis XIV's Grand Trianon at Versailles, Astor Courts. The home was originally part of the Astor family's Ferncliff estate and Astor Courts (also known as the "Astor Casino" or "Ferncliff Casino") was designed as a guest lodge and sporting pavilion. The beautiful Beaux-Arts mansion was completed in 1904 and is on 50 acres. The expansive main living area has five bedrooms and spans over 15,000 square feet. The truly stunning details include the indoor clay tennis court topped with a glass ceiling and framed by Gothic arches and a white marble pool surrounded by arches and graced with a pale sky-blue ceiling.

In 1964 Brooke Astor gave the home to the Catholic Church. The current owners, real-estate developer Arthur Seelbinder and his wife, Kathleen Hammer, a former producer for Oxygen Media, bought the home in 2005 for $3.2 million and spent a fortune restoring it. Stanford White's great-grandson, Sam White led the restoration. The property is listed on the National Historic Register, and a Letter of Patent from New York State ensures access to the Hudson River in perpetuity and a Special Use Permit allows the property to be rented for corporate retreats, conferences and other functions. It has an estimated appraised value of $15 million but will sell to the highest bidder above $7,500,000.

Gallery: Astor Courts

Tags: astor courts, chelsea clinton and marc mezvinsky, chelsea clinton wedding, new york real estate, real estate auction, rhinebeck, RhinebeckNewYork

The Classicist: Historic Hudson River Astor Estate Restored to Its Former Glory

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, The Classicist

Marienruh, a historic fieldstone colonial revival country estate built for heiress Alice Astor, the daughter of John Jacob Astor IV and sister of Vincent Astor, and her Russian aristocrat husband Prince Serge Obolensky in 1926 is being restored to its former glory by its new owners. The gracious mansion, situated on 100 scenic acres given to Alice by her brother overlooking the Hudson River in Rhinebeck, New York, was constructed for the glamorous couple by renowned architect Mott B. Schmidt. It had been on the market for $8.5 million up until last summer when unnamed buyers purchased the property, which had been in institutional use for some time, and set about renovating it – a pleasing reversal in an age where many fine old mansions are being put to less dignified uses, often destroying their souls in the process.

After Alice Astor's death the mansion was used over the years as a Christian youth camp, a home for unwed mothers, a drug rehab center and an events space. Over the decades the house was stripped of nearly all its original details, including fireplace mantels, lighting fixtures, hardware and even the copper gutters. The restoration work is being done extremely carefully, overseen by New York architect-designer Robert Couturier. A few upgrades are of course necessary, and new greenhouses are being installed. One of the wings will now house an elegant two-story tall library. As architectural historian Mark Alan Hewitt notes in The Architecture of Mott B. Schmidt (Rizzoli, 1991), Marienruh's block-with-dependencies design was inspired by two influential 18th century American mansions: Montpelier (1751) in Laurel, Maryland, and the the Hammond-Harwood House (1773-4) in Annapolis, MD.

Marienruh is next to photographer Annie Leibovitz's 220-acre spread which had been listed for sale at $11 million as part of her debt restructuring imbroglio. David Bowie and his wife Iman have reportedly considered buying it; other celebrities with property in the area include Liam Neeson, Gwyneth Paltrow, financier George Soros, hotelier Andre Balazs, and Rolling Stone magazine founder Jann Wenner. Leibovitz's property including some stone barns was once part of Alice's father John Jacob Astor IV's 3,500-acre estate Ferncliff; another remnant of that once glorious demesne is the beautiful Astor Courts, designed by Stanford White as a playhouse for Ferncliff with an indoor pool and tennis court, which was was an Estate of the Day last fall with an asking price of $12 million.

Gallery: Marienruh

Tags: Annie Leibovitz, architect, architecture, Astor, Astor family, Astors, country house, David Bowie, estate, Gwyneth Paltrow, historic houses, Hudson River, library, mansion, Maryland, Mott B. Schmidt, New York, restoration, Rhinebeck, Stanford White

Astor Courts, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Today's estate is one of the prettiest I've seen in a while. Astor Courts in Rhinebeck, New York, was designed by architect Stanford White for John Jacob Astor IV. The beautiful Beaux-Arts mansion was completed in 1904 and is on 50 acres. The expansive main living area has five bedrooms and spans over 15,000 square feet. The truly stunning details include the indoor clay tennis court topped with a glass ceiling and framed by Gothic arches and a white marble pool surrounded by arches and graced with a pale sky-blue ceiling.

In 1964 Brooke Astor gave the home to the Catholic Church. The Wall Street Journal's Private Properties reports that the current owners, real-estate developer Arthur Seelbinder and his wife, Kathleen Hammer, a former producer for Oxygen Media, bought the home in 2005 for $3.2 million and spent a fortune restoring it. Stanford White's great-grandson, Sam White led the restoration. Clearly he did a fine job, it's a stunner (even if some of the decor seems a little too Crate and Barrel prefab for a home of this pedigree). The home is listed at $12 million.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

Gallery: Astor Courts

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Tags: astor courts, AstorCourts, brooke astor, BrookeAstor, estate of the day, EstateOfTheDay, new york real estate, NewYorkRealEstate, rhinebeck

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Leibovitz Picks up 30 Days (and Another Lawsuit)

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

In the ongoing legal struggle between celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz and the art community's financial institution, Art Capital Group, the judge has decided to extend the clock. Though the photographer's payment is still due on September 8, 2009 (Tuesday), the next hearing with New York State Supreme Court Justice Bernard Fried won't occur until October 2. The experts, according to Bloomberg News, are chiming in that Art Capital Group is unlikely to declare Leibovitz in default, as that could push her into bankruptcy, which could cost the lender some cash and control over its own financial fate. Her real estate is estimated to be worth close to $40 million, and Art Capital Group puts the worth of her photo archive at above $50 million ... a bit higher now, thanks to the recent LeBron James shoot for Vanity Fair.

As if a lawsuit in state court weren't enough, Leibovitz may find herself in front of a federal judge, soon. Italian photographer Paolo Pizzetti filed the complaint, alleging that Leibovitz had hired him to take site-scouting photos and then used his product – without permission – in a LavAzza calendar, passing the photos off as her own. Specific sites shot include the Trevi Fountain in Rome and Plaza San Marco in Venice. The calendar was released last October. Pizzetti is looking for $150,000 per infringement and other unspecified damages. The Leibovitz camp has no comment yet, as it hasn't reviewed Pizzetti's filings.

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Tags: annie leibovitz, AnnieLeibovitz, art, art market, artist, ArtMarket, artwork, federal court, federal judge, FederalCourt, FederalJudge, lavazza, lawsuit, leibovitz, litigation, manhattan, manhattan real estate, ManhattanRealEstate, new york, new york city, NewYork, NewYorkCity, rhinebeck, rhinebecknewyork, scandal, scandalous, state court, StateCourt, west village, WestVillage

The Classicist: Stanford White, Architect

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Books, The Classicist

Last summer when we wrote about Land Rover's 60th anniversary we visited the incredible Astor Courts in Rhinebeck, N.Y, designed by Stanford White as part of a country retreat for John Jacob Astor IV in 1902. The Astor Courts features prominently in a beautiful new book from Rizzoli, Stanford White, Architect. White, the visionary head of famed firm McKim, Mead & White, was arguably the most celebrated American architect of his day and a "defining figure of the so-called Gilded Age." In addition to the Astor Courts (originally the Ferncliff Casino), the book features many of White's buildings, including Beacon Rock in Newport, Rhode Island (above).

The book, by White's great-grandson Samuel G. White and Elizabeth White with photography by Jonathan Wallen, comprehensively explores White's "sumptuously rich oeuvre," from his own residences on Long Island and in Gramercy Park, to the "extraordinary and opulent" houses such as the incredible Rosecliff in Newport (see the gallery) and Villard Houses and Payne Whitney mansion in New York City. It also includes the lavish private clubs he designed such as the Century Association, the old Madison Sqaure Garden and Tiffany & Co., churches, monuments and more.

Gallery: Stanford White, Architect

Rosecliff, commissioned by Nevada silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs in 1899, is without a doubt the most extravagant house in the book. Designed to evoke Louis XIV's Grand Trianon at Versailles, it cost $2.5 million by the time it was completed in 1902 - about $60 million in today's dollars. The mansion, which is now a museum, was used to film scenes from 1974's The Great Gastby starring Robert Redford. Oelrichs hosted many fabulous parties at Rosecliff, including a fairy tale dinner and party featuring famed magician Harry Houdini as the evening's entertainment. In 1904 she staged the famous "Bal Blanc" to celebrate the Astor Cup Races, in which everything in the house was white and silver.

The classical Astor Courts is pictured on the book's cover. A less opulent but equally beautiful echo of the Grand Trianon, the five-bedroom structure features an indoor tennis court and swimming pool, and cost $1 million to build, or about $22 million in today's dollars. The building was a complete wreck in 2002 when a former TV producer purchased it for $3.2 million and set about an intense restoration. Five years and more than a million dollars later, it has been restored to White's original grandeur.

Tags: Architecture, Astor, Astor Courts, AstorCourts, Mansion, Newport, Rhinebeck, Rosecliff, Stanford White, StanfordWhite

The Classicist: Land Rover Celebrates 60 Years at the Top

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, The Classicist

2008 is the 60th anniversary of storied British SUV manufacturer Land Rover, and to mark the occasion the company has embarked on a "Choice of Experts" tour showcasing its capabilities. The other day we caught up with them at the historic Astor Courts in Rhinebeck, N.Y, designed by Stanford White as a country retreat for John Jacob Astor IV in 1902. It was the perfect setting for a brand that has come to signify rugged elegance and luxurious rusticity, and while there we got the opportunity to drive a new Range Rover Sport on a hazardous off-road course that showed style and comfort needn't sacrifice anything in the way of practical ability.

We've owned both Land Rovers and Range Rovers over the years, and though these days we don't particularly miss pulling up to the gas pump we certainly pine for them whenever the weather turns particularly nasty or we're called upon to do even the slightest bit of off-roading, so it was something of a treat. Land Rover and especially the Range Rover is the automotive embodiment of a distinctly English aesthetic - regular readers of The Classicist will recognize this as a recurring motif - as portrayed in books like Bernhard Roetzel's British Tradition. The luxe Range Rover was first introduced in 1970, expanding upon the utilitarian Land Rover first designed by the Wilks Brothers in 1948.

The Queen of England drives a Range Rover in the country, and Prince Charles is a longtime enthusiast. His 1978 Range Rover was auctioned off on eBay in 2005. While out for sport in inclement weather he is said to have simply opened a special "huntsman" sunroof, stood on the back seat and poked his Asprey shotgun out to shoot from the comfort of the cabin. We can't say we've ever tried that maneuver and we daresay it isn't the sort of thing encouraged by the company these days. In any case there was unfortunately no shooting to be had at Astor Courts, only demonstrations about cooking and decorating and so forth, but such are the depredations of the modern era.

Gallery: Land Rover's 60th Anniversary