Estate of the Day

It takes a certain style to put up a painting instead of a...

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:34:25 -0400

It takes a certain style to put up a painting instead of a listing photo. But when you haven’t listed in 40 years and you are a New York classic you can take a few liberties.

She was built in 1854 right on Stuyvesant Park with direct park views from every floor. The Italianate brownstone still has its original two huge teardrop Chandeliers and five sconces all converted from gas to electric and many of the original moldings, stained glass and original inlaid wood flooring. It sits next to the grand St. Georges& Episcopal Church ca. 1856 and the Friend’s Seminary ca.1861. Thing were different then. She has endured, too solid and too lovely to be ground down but a city of ceaseless change.

She’s currently configured as a four family with all fairmarket leases but would make one spectacular home for those with means and vision. Yours for $8.35 million.

Some homes just look like they will outlast us, outlast...

Fri, 03 May 2013 16:01:22 -0400

Some homes just look like they will outlast us, outlast humanity, outlast time. This home could have existed 500 years ago or ten years in the future. You fell in love with this house for the silo library, you like bending yourself around the staircase like a shy governess in a Gothic novel. The countryside remains the same, plants have no need of ceaseless change, of the relentless frenzy of innovation. You’ll keep the hardbound books for a while, eschewing the notion of a cloud. After all, you never know what the future holds. If there’s a zombie apocalypse, this is your hideout.

Yours for $1.6 million.

You were afraid of heights once but that was long ago. Still...

Fri, 03 May 2013 11:30:47 -0400

You were afraid of heights once but that was long ago. Still walking across the glass staircase gives you that little thrill of fear. Just enough to remind you that you are still human, still vulnerable.

When the storms roll in, snow and rain pelt the glass. It feels personal, as if the world is beating on you, as if nature holds a grudge. It fuels you. You wake up in the morning, drink your grapefruit juice and bitter black coffee and Skype with the drones in the offices back in the city. They think you never sleep. They don’t know why men have gone out in boats for centuries, how the ocean wakes you up and puts you to sleep. They have forgotten their true natures. You are remembering yours. You are a Viking.

Yours for $2.775 million.

Too big, too far away, and what would you do with a mansion with...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:01:33 -0400

Too big, too far away, and what would you do with a mansion with columns in Tennessee for crying out loud? Really, what wouldn’t you do? Have your own Gatsby-esque bacchanalia or just forget the world. Fill it up with weird collections, or nothing at all. This house, somewhere between Versace-esque opulence and McMansion aspirations doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. Neither do you. Maybe it’s better that way. You’ve always been lucky. Fate tends to find you. Maybe even here, atop a hill on 11 acres in Tennessee. Stranger things have happened. They will continue to do so.

Up for auction. Yours for $5.3 million or whatever the number is when the gavel slams down.

1920s Southern California. The new New World. The home of...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 08:01:02 -0400

1920s Southern California. The new New World. The home of dreamers and wackos, immigrants and opportunists. Those who would be lost and those would rule the world, clustered into these tiny cottages. Hobo coffee, sweaters with holes in the sleeves, fringed flapper gowns dragging on the sand. Our Venice.

Now, the Lantern house, three cottages on one lot, and Andrew Henry’s Meadow filled with light and whimsy. Fountains, art and ramshackle furniture. Lattes, yoga pants, Louboutins in the sand. Beauty, youth, and energy—the eternal commodities.Offered fully-furnished with the owner’s lifetime assemblage of fine art, furniture, furnishings, collectibles and curios: nearly “lock, stock and barrel”! Perfect for owner-users who need a home studio or office. Cash offers only, bring your money, your toothbrush and a suitcase.

Yours for $5.4 million.

The ‘no’ forms in your mind when he pulls up the...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:01:15 -0400

The ‘no’ forms in your mind when he pulls up the driveway. You are not living in a church. It’s not that you have anything against religion. In fact you respect it. You respect it enough not to live inside a former holy place. “It’s been decommissioned,” he tells you. “Unblessed.” Who wants to live in an unblessed home?

But he pulls you through the rooms, through Gothic arch doors and smaller rooms with cozier spaces. It would echo at first but you could fill it. With kids, with love, with animals. Still it would be weird. You aren’t sure. He’s sure. Maybe that’s enough.

Yours for $699,000.

Not all startups need to be in Silicon Valley, or Silicon Alley,...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 08:01:10 -0400

Not all startups need to be in Silicon Valley, or Silicon Alley, or Silicon Snowbank or whatever stupid name they come up with next. You’ll start here, McKinney Virgina, in a building that was the phone company and still looks like it mostly. Tall ceilings, open spaces, a brutal 1960s square ugliness graced now with a new kitchen but mostly still raw office space. Through in some couches, through in some desks, bring in those hotshots who hate big cities. Innovation happens everywhere and anywhere, get on board.

Yours for $245,000.

When you were young and said you wanted to live in a library...

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 16:01:35 -0400

When you were young and said you wanted to live in a library this wasn’t exactly what you pictured but this modest condo on Fell Street was once the library of a grand mansion. You still get to walk up to that grand building, enter through that dramatic hall, your destination is just smaller, cozy even. But there’s an efficiency that’s pleasing too, once space to call your own. A sleeping nook tucked into the bay window, a bathroom and kitchen, neat and essential. You never needed much anyway, not even the books anymore now that you have an iPad.The temples we built for books, what becomes of their grandeur now?

Yours for $399,000.

Oh my girl, what have they done to you? Is there any response to...

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 08:00:56 -0400

Oh my girl, what have they done to you? Is there any response to a bad makeover besides commenting on how refreshed you look. I didn’t see your before, only your exterior, classic Watch Hill shingled grace that hints at something grander and darker. Over three acres of magnificent coastal elegance, softly beckoning ocean views nine bedrooms, two kitchen, porches & a sweeping lawn to 160 feet of oceanfront. All we need to do is reclaim your spirit. There’s a Gibson Girl under all that paint…

Yours for $10.75 million.

We use old like a dirty word. It’s fine to be old, just...

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 16:01:22 -0400

We use old like a dirty word. It’s fine to be old, just don’t look old. You prefer the Europeans, they let their hair go gray and their faces go slack but they keep their brains sharp as knives. We forget to feed our brains here. We act like old can’t change, it can only be nipped, tucked, primped, and disguised. They built this house before smart phones, televisions, movies in color. It doesn’t matter. She’s European at the core, ready to evolve but always remain uniquely herself. She’ll put in those granite countertops and yet never lose her soul.

Yours for $2.2 million.

This town’s as crazy as you are. A lumpy, bumpy, hilly...

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 08:01:10 -0400

This town’s as crazy as you are. A lumpy, bumpy, hilly town first famous mostly for gold speculators, treasures coming in from foreign ports, and fires. Oh the fires, as fast as this city burned down, they’d rebuild. San Francisco was fated to be it seems. This house too, feels fated, if wildly impractical. How do you fill round rooms? Round beds? Curved desks? You’ll make it work. Hell, you’ll just lay in the middle of the floor and make snow angels like DaVinci’s illustrated man. A house with this price tag should be more serious, grand even. But rich doesn’t always mean serious, you are proof of that. Six bedrooms and six bathrooms, an open kitchen/dining/living space for the family to run around like the hippie hoydens you are despite all that cash.The turret roof reminds you of a witch’s hat, or a wizard. If a house has a soul, this one comes with a belly laugh.

Delicious water and city views, roof deck, library, media room with full bar/second kitchen, exercise room with sauna, and 3,000-bottle wine cellar all across from Buena Vista Park in one of the City’s most desirable locations. Sure, it’s outside your price range, it’s outside everyone’s. But look at all those levels, it doubles as a gym. Yours for $5.5 million.

Winter fades slowly here. Gray and white for months. Beautiful...

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 08:01:01 -0400

Winter fades slowly here. Gray and white for months. Beautiful but stark. You need this rug, bright red lamp, fire in the fireplace.

Summer comes like a blaze. Green trees, the woods alive with small animals of all sorts, you can hear the whole natural world teeming outside your door. Everyone comes to visit. Long slow brunches, dinner on the lawn. People envy your life.

You prefer the winters, the quiet, the struggle to find the light, the eventual triumph of spring. It begins, again and again.

Yours for $7.5 million.

You like the smell of smoke. Of meat on the grill, bacon in the...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:01:19 -0400

You like the smell of smoke. Of meat on the grill, bacon in the fryer, of trout you catch and smoke and chop into a pate so smooth that no one is sure quite what they are eating, only that it brings woodsmoke alive in their mouths.

You grew up chopping trees. Sawdust and gasoline. Chainsaws scare you now. You’ve grown soft in air-conditioned offices.This place brings you back to what you’ve forgotten, a childhood hollering in the wilderness.

Georgia on your mind, 600 feet of water frontage on Lake Hartwell, two covered docks, even if taking the kids out on the water scares you a bit. Fear but do it anyway. Your motto in business. Time to take it into real life.

Or just sit on the covered porches under the ceiling fan, you know, whatever moves you…

Yours for $1.475 million.

The name got you before the house itself, Stillwaters. They...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 08:01:11 -0400

The name got you before the house itself, Stillwaters. They called you that once, “still waters run deep.” It wasn’t a compliment.

Your waters aren’t still now. Your life bulging like an overstuffed purse. Room enough for the whole group in the crafts style post and beam main house. Summer weekends you let the two day crew have the house to themselves and hunker down in the guest house. It takes hours to get here from the city. Wendell, Massachusetts, you hadn’t even heard of it. Then Stillwaters. a house on the shore and four scrubby islands, all your own. Canoe out, plant a flag, let the kids invent their own kingdoms, then that slow paddle back, the house, proud like a church steeple, lights coming on at twilight. Picnic dinners and fireflies, tell me there are still fireflies.

Yours for $699,000.

Arkansas, they sneered, why would you ever go there? But...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:01:26 -0400

Arkansas, they sneered, why would you ever go there? But you’ve always been country, you just hid it well when you had to. It was still home. You can breathe here. 75 acres all your own. Hold a party that lasts for ten days, music bouncing all over the lake, and nobody comes by to tell you to turn it off. Live and let live. Nobody puts on their shoes unless they are going to the store or walking through the thick grass. Cold beer in the fridge, two kinds of potato salad because not everyone likes it the way your momma made it with hard-boiled eggs and chopped pickles. Too many TVs on, all tuned to different channels, kids in wet bathing suits sprawled all over leather couches. You toss a towel at ‘em but you don’t really care, you left perfect behind long ago. Now Hickory Flat Road suits you fine. Yours for $1,899,900.

In her obituary they unkindly called hers a riches to riches...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 08:00:49 -0400

In her obituary they unkindly called hers a riches to riches story. As if being from money and marrying money meant that anything she did was fated. Money, a giant tidal wave pushing her forward. Rich girls never get any credit.

She was Lilly before she was Lilly Pulitzer. Two l’s in that first name, she wasn’t named for a flower but maybe spent the rest of her life being associated with a whole garden full of them. Famous then with that ex-husband’s name forever yoked to her own (she made it work, no shame in the game, just ask Tori Burch).

Her home, forever prepared for parties, paid for by prints that looked adorable on toddler rompers and still worked on shift dresses worn by the ladies who lunched, and lunched, and grieved and lunched, until finally in their 80s, surrounded by family and legacy, they looked around, sighed, and breathed, “enough.”

Her retreat, now yours for $8.5 million.

You come here when you are lonely but can’t bear to be so....

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 16:07:00 -0400

You come here when you are lonely but can’t bear to be so. This place, hotel-anonymous, filled with beautiful people, calms you with cool, de-personalized spaces. Sit by the pool, oversized black shades, hair in a ponytail, bikini and caftan, silver strappy gladiator sandals, bottled water, Vogue magazine because a lady is never too old for Vogue, only too fat. Watch those lovely tan bodies, so far removed from your own that you can barely remember that ease of naked skin. You were young once, and stupid too, their splashing joyousness is a tonic after hushed talk in hospitals, scans and x-rays. Life you’ve learned doesn’t come down to money earned or even people loved. It comes down to afternoons with the sun on your face and still being here. They call Florida God’s waiting room but if you’ve got to wait it out, there’s no better place than a sleek condo in Miami Beach. Yours for $1,989,500.

They’d never find you here. Seal Rock, Oregon....

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 13:07:02 -0400

They’d never find you here. Seal Rock, Oregon. They’d never even look here. Cold, gray, shrouded in mist some days, a town not on their list of must-visit destinations. They’d figure you for somewhere a little more trendy. But they didn’t see the sunshine, or the views of sand and surf, as pretty as any you’d find in all those other tony places they would look for you first. Five bedrooms, because you hate to eat alone. Over two acres because you don’t trust strangers, or neighbors, or anyone you haven’t known since the days before. It’s an enviable life, it’s a lonely life, this house built in 1977, dated enough to feel shopworn but new enough to be window-filled. Yours for $1.1 million.

Feeling spendy this weekend? Washingtonians with deep pockets...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:04:24 -0400

Feeling spendy this weekend? Washingtonians with deep pockets could snap up this elegant home overlooking historic Battery Kemble Park. The estate offers over 15,000 square feet of luxury living with everything you need to charm the local politeratti including a ballroom with a butler’s pantry, dining room that seats eighteen, as well as a pool/guest house for summer events. The home has a gym, seven bedrooms, eight full bathrooms, 4 half bathrooms, library with a fireplace, generous kitchen, , large living room with a fireplace and a family room with a fireplace and porch. The main level of the home is designed around a wide central hall and boasts a huge, very comfortable elevator, and a caterers entrance/garage downstairs. An enclosed rooftop will dazzle all those VIPs in need of privacy. Yours for whatever your wallet dictates, it’s an absolute auction on April 6. (via DeCaro Real Estate Auctions, Inc. - Naples, Florida and Easton, Maryland - TRULY ABSOLUTE AUCTION WASHINGTON, D.C.)

Legendary arts patron in Houston, Toni Beauchamp lost her battle...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:26:54 -0400

Legendary arts patron in Houston, Toni Beauchamp lost her battle with cancer last year. Now her lovely art-filled home in Houston is on the market. She was a legend in the community and this home reflects her love of arts and beauty.

The dramatic home sited on one secluded acre atop Buffalo Bayou and was designed by Houston architect Carlos Jimenez.The main floor has large formal living and dining rooms with wide well-lit walls on which to display art and entertain on a grand scale. The private master suite on lower level provides serene space with garden views. A third level over quarters has two additional spacious bedrooms with en suite bathrooms. The grounds provide grand and intimate terraced patios and porches for entertaining. Art not included, but oh if it were… the lady had lovely modern taste. Yours for $4.995 million.