Brooke Astor
Holy Holly Hill!
David Turner, a soft-spoken and very kind-faced 51-year-old Westchester real estate broker, stood in his black fleece Columbia vest and Merrell shoes in something called the Love Temple, a pavilion in the perfectly manicured southwest section of a 64.6-acre estate.
Rain fell. Wild turkeys shuffled by. An owl hooted. It was like a Victorian novel, except Victorian novels end with marriages, and the main story at this infinite estate, Holly Hill, ended when the regal philanthropist Brooke Astor died here last year at age 105. She was survived by one son, Anthony Marshall, a handsome ex-ambassador who has pleaded not guilty to a 16-count indictment accusing him of stealing his mother’s fortune while she suffered from Alzheimer’s. read more »
Brooke Astor's Duplex at 778 Park Reportedly Down to (Gulp!) $35 M.
This time last week, The Observer was glumly obsessing over all the listings that had just been given multimillion-dollar price cuts. But nothing was as tooth-rattling as this: WWD is reporting that Brooke Astor's 778 Park Avenue duplex has been cut from $46 million to $35 million.
That, if you're counting, is nearly a 25 percent discount, which is good news for bargain-hunters, and downright devastating for high-heeled uptown real estate brokers--not to mention high-heeled uptown real estate owners--who are clinging to the idea that their impeccable apartments are immune to the worldwide financial crisis.
Here's a glimmer of hope: the Corcoran listing still says read more »
Mrs. Astor’s Prodigal Son Comes Home—To Sell It
On Sept. 17, just as his late mother Brooke Astor’s $46 million duplex co-op was coming back on the market after a summer hiatus, and one day before a court appearance, Anthony D. Marshall slouched in his white living room armchair, one hand resting on his neck. The senatorial 84-year-old, unsmiling and handsome in his gold-buttoned navy blazer, blue-checked white shirt, pressed gray-striped pants and black loafers, said he had regrets. “Oh, yes. But that’s awfully…” He paused. “To be retrospective about anything is being retrospective.
“You can’t change the past.”
Nearly a year after pleading not guilty to a 16-count criminal indictment that accuses him of stealing millions from his mother while she was suffering from Alzheimer’s, American-born but Victorian-voiced Mr. read more »
Brooke Astor's $46 M. Apartment (Briefly) Off The Market
In what must surely be the most sweepingly devastating tragedy of the week (in terms of Park Avenue real estate), the late Brooke Astor's salivated-over $46 million duplex at 778 Park Avenue has been taken off the market for the summer.
The listing is down from the Web site of Leighton Candler, the Corcoran broker who won the listing after five of the city’s top brokerages met in the co-op's library, where the floor-to-ceiling bookcases have 10 coats of scarlet lacquer.
"We’re doing just a few things to the apartment during the summer work period," said Mr. Candler. "We’re making a few minor alterations to the apartment--we’re raising a ceiling that had been lowered in the entrance hall, because, you know, it needed to be done. read more »
Wild Wildenstein Mansion Sells for $42.5 M.; Brooke Astor's Butler on the Deed!
Eleven years after the Dada-faced Jocelyn Wildenstein, who looks like a William Steig drawing of that great plastic surgery scene in Brazil, found her husband, Alec, in bed with a 19-year-old blonde at their 29-foot-wide mansion—Mr. Wildenstein, in a towel, responded by pulling a 9mm pistol on his wife—the famous townhouse has been sold.
The deal, first reported on The Observer’s Web site on Monday, closed earlier this month for $42.5 million.
In 1999, Ms. Wildenstein left the mansion at 11 East 64th Street, which was owned by her father-in-law, Daniel, and which she and her husband had shared with Alec’s younger brother Guy. read more »
No Name-Dropping in $46 M. Brooke Astor Apartment Listing, But Floorplan's Gargantuan!
The massive listing for the late Brooke Astor's duplex at 778 Park Avenue is finally online, and it's the kind of thing that real estate obsessives will salivate over for years. Leighton Candler, the broker who beat out four other super-powerful brokerages--read what Ms. Astor's daughter-in-law had to say about her here--put up four flowery interior shots, but the real keeper is the floorplan. read more »
Astor Heir Picks Georgia-Bred Broker to Sell Brooke's 778 Park Duplex
Brooke Astor’s duplex at 778 Park Avenue, a perfectly trimmed, scarlet-lacquered, canonical Upper East Side abode, officially has a broker, eight months after Astor’s death at age 105.
Her 83-year-old son Anthony D. read more »
Astor Son Auditions Brokers for Brooke's 778 Park Pad
The library alone at Brooke Astor’s 778 Park Avenue duplex, with floor-to-ceiling bookcases that got no less than 10 coats of scarlet lacquer, launched a thousand high-heeled Upper East Side adjectives. The philanthropist’s apartment was, until late July 2006, one of those co-ops that had long been fawned over as a perfect American home. read more »
Brooke Astor's Only Son Faces Criminal Charges
Anthony D. Marshall, Brooke Astor’s only son, has been indicted on criminal charges that relate to his handling of his late mother’s finances and will, which was curiously amended in 2002. One of the late Manhattan doyenne’s former lawyers, Francis X. Morrissey Jr., has also been fingered in the case. According to the Times, the exact details of the case are not yet fully known, but a Manhattan grand jury has been listening to witness testimonies for a little over two months.
But the Manhattan District Attorney's office just sent out a press release (click here, or on "Read More" below to read it) with a few more details in it. Allegedly, Mr. Marshall "took advantage of Mrs. Astor's diminished mental capacity in a scheme to defraud her out of millions of dollars." Additionally, the D.A.'s release argues that Ms. Astor's only son convinced his mother to sell real estate by telling her that she was going broke.
Mr. Marshall reportedly left calls from reporters unanswered. Mr. Morrissey, on the other hand, "will plead not guilty at his arraignment" later this week, according to his lawyer. read more »
Goodbye Mrs. Astor
