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Late Fashion Designer Oleg Cassini’s Manhattan Home Hits the Market for $14 Million
It’s been more than 50 years since Oleg Cassini’s Manhattan home was last on the market. Now, the late fashion designer’s elegant townhouse can be yours for a cool $14 million.
The lavish Gramercy Park abode, also known as the Joseph B. Thomas House, is one of New York City’s last remaining architecturally significant townhouses up for private sale, Bloomberg first reported. Dating back to the 17th century, the home was originally built in Amsterdam, and in 1845, it was dismantled and shipped to the Upper West Side. The home was moved again in 1910 to its coveted spot on East 19th Street, where it was completed by British architect Frederick J. Sterner.
Late designer Oleg Cassini’s N.Y.C. townhouse is up for sale.
Tim Waltman of Evan Joseph Studio
Sporting a Gothic style, the five-story dwelling is “somewhere in the middle of a castle, a mansion, a townhouse, and a church or synagogue,” Compass agent Jim St. André, who holds the listing together with colleague Peter Gordenstein, told Bloomberg. Outside, you’ll find gargoyles on the façade, along with stained-glass windows and decorative stone inlays. Internally, the aesthetic continues with a soaring seven-foot fireplace, dark wood paneling, and ornate plasterwork.
The massive foyer is decked out with Flemish-patterned stone flooring, while the two-story great room features a barrel-vaulted ceiling. From here, you can step into a stunning, sun-drenched solarium. Altogether, the 7,000-square-foot property comprises six bedrooms, five-and-a-half baths, a gourmet chef’s kitchen with a dumbwaiter, a formal dining room, and a wine cellar.
The century-old home has tons of Gothic details like stained-glass windows
Tim Waltman of Evan Joseph Studio
Cassini, best known as a dressmaker for Jackie Kennedy, died from a stroke in 2006. Following his passing, the townhouse became the subject of a bitter estate dispute between his widow and grandchildren. The current owners, who bought the palatial pad at auction for $5 million last year, chose to rehab some of the existing elements before deciding to sell. “Someone will walk in the door, feel a connection to the property, and want to use or rehabilitate and restore what’s here,” added St. André.
Click here to see all the photos of Oleg Cassini’s Manhattan townhouse.
Tim Waltman of Evan Joseph Studio More
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Madeleine Albright’s Longtime Georgetown Home Packs in More Than 50 Years of Political History
Ever wish walls could talk? Well, if the ones within this Washington, D.C., property long owned by the late former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright could indeed speak, they most assuredly would have their share of fascinating tales to spin.
Think stories of all the distinguished guests who visited the storied premises at some point during her 50-plus-year tenure—from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, to Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and George Shultz, just for starters.
Madeleine Albright chats with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat during a 2000 luncheon held at her Georgetown home.
George Bridges/AFP via Getty Images
Now, almost two years after the trailblazing politician died from cancer at age 84, the 19th-century residence is up for grabs, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Tucked away in the historic Georgetown enclave of Washington, D.C.—and reportedly purchased by Albright and her husband Joe in 1968 for around $100,000—the Federal-style row house is being offered for $4 million by Michael Rankin and Logan MacKethan of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty.
Built in the early 1850s, the traditional red brick structure features four bedrooms and five baths in just over 4,700 square feet of multi-level living space rife with wide-plank hardwood floors, elegant crown molding and decorative millwork. Access is granted via a teal-hued front door, which opens into a lengthy entrance hallway providing views of an expansive terrace and a stone fountain holding court in the garden-laced backyard.
A double living room has two fireplaces and French doors flowing to the rear terrace.
Townsend Visuals for TTR Sotheby’s International Realty
From there, a double living room painted in a pale shade of yellow and warmed by dual wood-burning fireplaces has two sets of French doors spilling outside. A formal dining room with built-in shelving leads to a kitchen that’s been sleekly updated by local architect Anne Decker, complete with marble countertops, an island, Viking and Sub-Zero appliances, a breakfast nook, and butler’s pantry boasting a Miele washer and dryer.
The second floor holds a bookshelf-clad library and primary bedroom suite hosting a spacious closet, plus a newly renovated marble bath equipped with heated floors; and elsewhere is a garden room, along with an office and a basement. There’s also a detached two-car garage with a full bath and storage space.
Click here for more photos of Madeleine Albright’s Georgetown house.
Townsend Visuals for TTR Sotheby’s International Realty More
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The One That Got Away: Inside Katy Perry’s Fight Over a $15 Million Montecito Estate
In October 2020, Katy Perry paid $14.2 million for a hillside estate in Montecito, the seaside enclave that has long been considered one of California‘s poshest neighborhoods. The purchase was widely reported, and the pop star and her fiancée Orlando Bloom promptly made the 9-acre compound their main residence.
What went unreported at the time was that Perry’s scenic new estate was not the property she had really wanted to buy. Back in July 2020, court records now show, and following an extensive house hunt, the “California Gurl” entered into an agreement to pay $15 million for a different Montecito estate, this one significantly smaller but also much closer to Montecito’s trendy downtown area than the other. But what initially seemed a clear-cut transaction has since devolved into a messy three years of legal wrangling and lurid allegations.
Perry paid $14.2 million for this Montecito tennis court estate in late 2020, but it wasn’t the house she really wanted.
Google Earth
In 2020, amid the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, wealthy residents from Los Angeles, San Francisco and other major cities fled to peaceful Montecito, sending real estate prices skyrocketing. In May 2020, Dallas-based entrepreneur Carl Westcott — the founder of 1-800-Flowers — paid $11.3 million for a 2.5-acre property sitting just a few doors away from Oprah Winfrey’s storied “Promised Land” complex.
Within a month of his purchase, Westcott had already hired an agent to court potential buyers who wanted to buy his new home. One of them was Maria Shriver, who offered $13 million for the nearly 10,000 square foot house, which sports eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. Facing competition, California’s former First Lady subsequently upped her offer to $13.5 million. But Shriver was ultimately outbid by Perry, who ponied up the $15 million now in dispute. On July 14, 2020, Westcott signed the agreement to sell the house for $3.7 million more than he had paid less than two months prior.
Almost immediately, Westcott appears to have had second thoughts about the deal. On July 22, 2020, according to a deposition, the 84-year-old contacted his real estate agent and asked about cancelling the contract, citing capital gains taxes and his girlfriend’s reluctance to move again. Two days later, an attorney hired by Perry’s business manager contacted Westcott, informing him that Perry and Bloom still wanted to buy the house and reminding him of his contractual obligation to complete the sale.
The Montecito house at the center of the multimillion-dollar legal war has formal gardens, a guesthouse and sits on 2.5 acres of land.
Google Earth
In August 2020, Westcott sued Perry’s business manager, claiming through his attorneys that the real estate contract should be voided because “the combination of age, frailty from his back condition and recent surgery, and the opiates he was taking several times a day rendered [Westcott] of unsound mind.”
Perry promptly countersued Westcott for millions in damages and has scoffed at his claims, noting that “[Westcott] was competent when he hired an experienced real estate broker, vetted the brokerage commission rate, arranged showings of the property, entertained multiple offers, sought alternative houses, and ultimately negotiated a highly lucrative sale.”
For now, the Montecito estate’s property title remains in Westcott’s name, though the high-maintenance estate has reportedly been left vacant as the three-plus-year legal battle unfolded. In any case, a judicial decision on the matter could finally be reached as soon as November; the two sides are currently battling it out in a Los Angeles courtroom.
And for whatever reason, this is not the first time Perry has faced a dispute with elderly people over pricey real estate. Back in 2014, Perry was involved in another legal tussle with several nuns after the local Archdiocese accepted her $14.5 million offer for a 22,000-square-foot convent in Los Angeles, which the singer intended to convert into a single-family home. Perry won that battle after years of wrangling, but ultimately lost interest in the property and declined to complete her purchase. More
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An L.A. Estate With a Star-Studded Past Hits the Market for the First Time in Two Decades
Owned by The Wallflowers frontman Jakob Dylan in the 1990s, and also a onetime outpost of veteran actress Renée Zellweger—who acquired it around the same time she won a 2001 Golden Globe award for her role in Nurse Betty—this celeb-pedigreed pad in the Nichols Canyon area of the Hollywood Hills was originally built six decades ago, but has since been “completely redone.”
Last sold in 2003 for roughly $2.5 million to United Talent Agency partner and former Johnny Depp agent Tracey Jacobs, the ivy-laced estate has returned to the market once again, this time asking nearly $5 million. The listing is held by Josh Flagg of Douglas Elliman.
Tucked away behind walls and a lengthy gated driveway—on almost an acre of land flanked by properties owned by Beverly D’Angelo and Seth Rogen—the single-level abode has three bedrooms and four baths in 3,400 square feet of living space, all of it adorned with dark hardwood floors and wood-beam ceilings.
A chandelier-topped library lined with bookshelves flows to a family room resting beneath a vaulted wood-beam ceiling.
Paul Barnaby
Among the highlights is a living room spotlighted by a fireplace, custom built-ins and French doors spilling out to the backyard. A formal dining room sports another fireplace, a library has floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and the family room connects to a gourmet kitchen outfitted with marble countertops and top-tier appliances.
Elsewhere is a sumptuous primary bedroom flaunting a sitting area, cedar walk-in closet, and marble-clad bath equipped with a fireplace, heated floors, dual vanities, a soaking tub and steam shower; and outdoors, the oasis-like grounds host a pool and spa surrounded by a sundeck, plus an al fresco dining area with a built-in barbecue. There’s also a detached two-car garage out front.
A backyard laced with mature trees is enhanced with a waterfall-fed pool and sundeck.
Paul Barnaby
In case you’re wondering, Jacobs is upgrading her residential circumstances. The industry stalwart recently ponied up $10.3 million for Rihanna’s Tudor-style house in the mountains above Beverly Hills.
Click here for more photos of Tracey Jacobs‘ Hollywood Hills house.
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This Celeb-Pedigreed Los Angeles Home Is Available for the First Time in 28 Years
Actress Daryl Hannah and singer/songwriter Jackson Browne began dating shortly before her star-making turn as a mermaid in the 1984 rom-com fantasy film Splash. It wasn’t too long before they bought a house together, a handsome East Coast-style shingled traditional home just half a block from the beach in one of the most coveted areas of Santa Monica. They split in 1992 but didn’t sell the house until 1995 when it was purchased by late Emmy-winning TV writer-producer John Bowman and his TV writer-producer wife Shannon Gaughan.
Bowman, a co-creator of the Martin Lawrence sitcom Martin, who also served as the head writer on In Living Color, died in 2021, and Gaughan, who was awarded an Emmy for her work on Saturday Night Live, now has their longtime family home on the market. Initially listed for $22.5 million, the price for the traditional estate now stands at $16.85 million. For those who might like to give the home a test run, it’s also available as a rental at $65,000 per month. Justin Alexander of The Alexander Group at Compass holds the listing.
The living room has a fireplace and French doors to the backyard.
Engel Studios
The mid-block parcel measures more than half an acre and has three substantial structures among its mature gardens. Altogether, there are seven bedrooms and six bathrooms across 7,200 square feet. The five-bedroom main house has a center hall entry complemented by spacious formal living and dining rooms, while the eat-in kitchen is up-to-date with marble counters and the sunlight-filled fireside family room has French doors to the gardens.
Bedrooms are sprinkled throughout the house and include a spacious second-floor primary suite with vaulted ceilings, a tile-accented fireplace, a large walk-in closet, and a tiled bathroom. Elsewhere are a home office and a hidden children’s playroom.
High hedges ensure privacy from neighboring homes.
Engel Studios
The verdant, manicured grounds include a horseshoe driveway, a huge deck for dining and relaxing, a swimming pool and spa, lush lawns, a picket-fenced rose garden, and a sports court. Mature specimen trees and high hedging shield the property from neighboring homes.
In addition to the main house, there’s a self-contained two-bedroom guesthouse with a kitchen and bath, which provides plenty of room for guests or staff, and a separate, two-story ivy-covered cottage that’s perfect for pursuing creative and/or professional endeavors.
Click here for more photos of 226 Palisades Avenue.
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Sylvester Stallone Sells $17 Million California Estate to John Fogerty
He’s outta there! Less than two years after Sylvester Stallone bought a 2.2-acre ranch in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley, the property has changed hands again. Records reveal the speedy new owner is music legend John Fogerty, originally of Creedence Clearwater Revival fame.
While still a huge sum of money, the $17.2 million Fogerty paid is well under Stallone’s $22.5 million asking price, and it’s also $1 million less than what Rocky himself paid for the keys back in spring 2022. It appears Stallone made almost no renovations to the place during his short ownership; designed for a previous owner, the Martyn Lawrence Bullard-crafted interiors remain intact and the horse-friendly grounds still features lushly scenic landscaping that’s just begging for an Architectural Digest feature.
Tucked away at the end of a secluded cul-de-sac within the famously star-studded and guard-gated Hidden Hills community, the ex-Stallone ranch is one of the most private properties in the entire enclave. Invisible from the road behind gates and mature trees, the estate contains a large main house, a detached guesthouse, large cabana and a substantial horse barn. There’s also an arena for horse riding, plus organic vegetable gardens, more than 100 fruit-bearing trees, a greenhouse and koi pond. Altogether, the property includes four bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms in well over 10,000 square feet of living space.
Interior highlights include a great room with a vaulted ceiling and skylights, a fireplace-equipped dining room, kitchen with high-end Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances, a media room with a projector and mirror-walled gym. The upstairs master suite offers dual vanities, a sitting area, dual showroom closets and a private balcony overlooking the sprawling grounds.
In addition to a large riding arena, the 2.2-acre spread contains four separate structures.
Google Earth
Out back, multiple loggias have ample room for al fresco entertaining, and the lush grounds encircle a private swimming pool with a Baja deck for sunbathing. There’s also a fire-pit lounge area, and plenty of tree-shaded spots to watch the horses romp in their arena.
In addition to their fancy new Hidden Hills spread, Fogerty and his longtime wife Julie still own an even larger estate out in the Hidden Valley community near Thousand Oaks. That 20-acre compound was up for grabs at $20 million earlier this year, though it’s since been removed from the market. As for Stallone, he and wife Jennifer have traded California for Florida, where they recently acquired a $35 million Palm Beach mansion. More
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Following a Multimillion-Dollar Restoration, L.A.’s Historic Almidor Estate Has Hit the Market
Traditionally, the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles has not been known as a haven for beautiful and historic architecture. But one particular property might singlehandedly change everyone’s mind — it’s a Spanish Colonial Revival build in Woodland Hills known as “Almidor, the John Show Ranch estate,” originally constructed in 1928 and designed by architect L.G. Knipe.
The 1920s valley was largely farmland, and Almidor certainly harkens back to that past. The 6,000-square-foot house was originally the centerpiece of a 350-acre ranch comprised largely of citrus and walnut trees. These days, Woodland Hills and the communities surrounding it are prototypical examples of suburban sprawl, and Almidor now sits on just a little over 1-acre of land. But the house and what remains of the grounds have lost none of their charm, having been expertly restored by current owners Gwilym and Peggy McGrew.
The McGrews acquired the property in a 2002 probate sale, paying just $485,000, and have now put the revitalized estate back up for sale at $5 million. That’s a big number for Woodland Hills, but a peek at the stunning amenities and the ask starts to seem like a bargain.
The step-down living room features original stained glass windows.
gavin cater
Invisible from the street behind gates and enormous trees, the house is accessed via two steep driveways that meet at a motorcourt. From there, it’s a walk up a long flight of stairs to the home’s arched façade, which covers a porch overlooking stunning gardens and a fountain.
Inside, guests will be awed by the double-height foyer, which displays forged iron work, original tile floors and a grand staircase. Also on tap are a living room with original stained-glass windows and a decorative fireplace, a large den equipped with its own wet bar, and a library decked out in a particularly verdant shade of green. Perhaps the one interior surprise is the kitchen, which appears distinctly more modern than the rest of the home but nonetheless still packs in many charming original details — in addition to the stone countertops and high-end Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances demanded by today’s luxury homebuyers.
All four of the home’s bedrooms are located upstairs, and each are equipped with ample closet space or dressing rooms. Out back, there are two distinct patio areas — an upper deck with a BBQ center, fire-pit and al fresco dining area, and a lower deck for sunbathing by the pool. As an added bonus, the property was recently upgraded with a new roof, new electrical wiring and the installation of a new triple-zone HVAC system. Benjamin Kahle of Compass holds the listing.
Click here for more photos of Almidor, the John Show estate. More
