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    Jackie Gleason’s Iconic ‘Mothership’ UFO Home Lists for $5.5 Million

    It was part party palace, part personal sanctuary, and all spectacle. Now, Jackie Gleason’s legendary estate in New York‘s picturesque Hudson Valley—better known as the Mothership—has reemerged for sale at $5.5 million with Corcoran’s Heidi Henshaw.

    Commissioned by the late comedian and musician as a retreat from filming the groundbreaking 1950s sitcom The Honeymooners, the spaceship-like residence in Cortlandt Manor is one of the most unusual homes ever built for a Hollywood icon. Gleason, famously fascinated with UFOs and metaphysical theory, dreamed up the circular home that embodied futuristic ambition while showcasing old-fashioned craftsmanship.

    RELATED: Inside a $2.2 Million Hudson Valley Farmhouse With Ties to the British Royal Family

    Completed in 1959, the copper-roofed Mothership was designed by architect Robert Cika.

    Chris Kiely/Jump Visual

    To execute his otherworldly vision, Gleason tapped architect Robert Cika, a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright, who enlisted a Scandinavian shipbuilder to help realize the extraordinary design. At least some of the prefabrication work took place inside an airplane hangar before the copper-roofed house was assembled on-site. It took five years and a reported $650,000, partly underwritten by Gleason’s bosses at CBS, before the Mothership was completed in 1959.

    The mid-century masterpiece is defined by its curving, organic architecture: there are no right angles anywhere in the 3,950-square-foot main residence. Banks of floor-to-ceiling windows flood the interiors with light, while the vaulted wooden ceiling evokes the hull of a ship and metal vents mimic stylized fish. Gleason even purchased an entire marble quarry in Italy to ensure the finest stone for the home’s flooring and massive fireplaces—some slabs so large they had to be delivered to the site by helicopter.

    The circular home has no right angles and soaring boat-like ceilings.

    James Gagliardi

    The circular plan includes three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, one half bathroom, a curved stainless-steel kitchen, a dining room, a spacious living area, and a circular library and office. Many original details, including built-in cabinetry, closets, and bespoke furnishings, remain intact.

    The home was conceived as much for entertainment as for solitude. Gleason’s late-night soirées reportedly drew the likes of Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, and even President Richard Nixon. Three dramatic swooping bars, a marble dance floor, and a game room with a shuffleboard table speak to its party-ready pedigree. Yet the Mothership also offers serenity, seclusion, and an intimate connection to the natural world, with panoramic views of its wooded 8.6-acre setting just an hour north of Manhattan.

    RELATED: Rosie O’Donnell’s Onetime Miami Beach Mansion Sells for $36 Million

    The three-bedroom home features curved walls of glass and massive marble fireplaces.

    James Gagliardi

    The estate includes two additional dwellings: a smaller, secondary “spaceship,” long used as a bunkhouse and glamping spot, and the Barracks, a charming (and far more conventional) 1930s stone Colonial Revival home that functions as a guesthouse. A cultivated vegetable and herb garden, plus a gardening shed, round out the retreat.

    The estate last traded hands in 1976 for just $150,000, when CBS sold the property following Gleason’s move to Florida. It briefly surfaced for sale back in 2018 for $12 million but never sold.

    Click here to see more photos of Jackie Gleason’s UFO-inspired home.

    James Gagliardi

    Authors

    Abby Montanez

    Abigail Montanez is a staff writer at Robb Report. She has worked in both print and digital publishing for over half a decade, covering everything from real estate, entertainment, dining, travel to…

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    Designer Judith Leiber’s Former East Hampton Home Is Back on the Market for $7 Million

    Seven years after Judith and Gerson “Gus” Leiber died within hours of each other in their 90s following 72 years of marriage, the creative couple’s longtime home and studio in the Hamptons has returned to the market. Last sold by their estate in 2020 for nearly $3 million, the residence has since been “impeccably reinvigorated” and is now being offered at a dash under $7 million. Ann Ciardullo and Keith Green of Sotheby’s International Realty hold the listing.

    The illustrious handbag designer and her husband, an accomplished abstract painter, acquired a total of six acres in the Springs hamlet of East Hampton in 1956 for a mere $10,000. They then embarked upon a decades-long construction effort that would eventually encompass the main home and a separate art studio across the property’s two acres. The remainder of the couple’s estate is now devoted to the Leiber Collection, a brick Palladian-style museum and surrounding sculpture garden that opened in 2008 to display their work, according to The New York Times.

    Leiber’s green-thumbed husband Gus is said to have grown orchids and ferns in the pentagon-shaped conservatory.

    Lena Yaremenko for Sotheby’s International Realty

    RELATED: This $6 Million Hamptons Property Combines a Quaint Cottage With a Modern Manse

    Hidden away behind gates and lush greenery on Old Stone Highway, the two-story gray wood-shingled primary dwelling has four bedrooms and five bathrooms in roughly 4,500 square feet, introduced via a double-height foyer displaying a terracotta tile floor and a traditional L-shaped staircase. Off the foyer is a bar-equipped dining room, which flows to a glass-encased conservatory on one side and a spacious fireside living room with built-in shelving on the other.

    Also standing out is a sky-lit kitchen outfitted with an eat-in peninsula, newer stainless appliances, and a breakfast nook, plus a primary suite flaunting a fireplace, a walk-in closet, a bath, and a spiral staircase leading up to a lofted space. Three additional en suite bedrooms can be found upstairs, while brick pathways outdoors meander their way to a pool, several gardens, and the detached 1,368-square-foot art studio featuring a large, light-filled workspace, a pair of lofts, and an attached one-car garage.

    A rectangular swimming pool overlooks the lushly landscaped yard.

    Lena Yaremenko for Sotheby’s International Realty

    RELATED: This $17 Million Minimalist Home in the Hamptons Sits on a High Bluff Above Gardiner’s Bay

    Judy, as she was known to her friends, was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1921 and grew up to become the “Queen of Minaudières,” whose fanciful designs—which famously include animals and vegetables—have been carried by a lengthy roster of first ladies, royalty, movie stars, and socialites. Today, her bejeweled handbags, which typically sell for thousands of dollars, are part of the permanent collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Smithsonian Institution. Paintings by Gus, a New York native, can also be found at the Met, as well as the Whitney Museum of American Art and National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

    Click here for more photos of the East Hampton residence.

    Lena Yaremenko for Sotheby’s International Realty

    Authors

    Wendy Bowman

    Wendy Bowman is a real estate writer at Robb Report. Before that, she was a freelancer for Modern Luxury and several other media outlets, where she primarily covered luxury properties for…

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    ‘Wings’ Star Tim Daly’s Upper West Side Pied-à-Terre Just Listed for $1.6 Million

    While he was shooting the first season of the CBS drama Madam Secretary in New York in 2014, Tim Daly leased a brand-new apartment on Manhattan‘s Upper West Side. Though it was perfectly nice and even came with an onsite gym, the place wasn’t quite his style and reminded him of a hotel suite.

    After finding out he would be reprising his role as a professor and National Security Agency operative, as well as the title character’s husband, the veteran actor decided to settle down into more permanent digs, picking up a homey co-op in a prewar building near his rental for $1.55 million. Not only did it have the natural light and city skyline views he was seeking, but it was also close to where his daughter and girlfriend (aka, Madam Secretary Téa Leoni) lived.

    “I went and saw the apartment directly below this one. And it didn’t get any of the nice light this one gets, and they were asking the same amount of money as this place, so I thought maybe this was a good deal,” Daly told The New York Times in a 2016 article. “I fluctuate between being very practical and very impulsive, and this was a very impulsive decision. Not to get too woo-woo, but there was a good vibe and I just kind of leapt.”

    A green tiled floor lends a punch of color to the small yet stylish kitchen.

    Allyson Lubow Photography for Corcoran

    RELATED: Liam Neeson Puts a $10.8 Million Price on His Park-View Manhattan Pied-à-Terre

    A decade later, the veteran actor best known for his turn as Joe Hackett on the popular 1990s sitcom Wings is ready to hand over the keys to his five-room pied-à-terre and has put it up for sale at a speck under $1.6 million. Fainna Kagan of The Corcoran Group holds the listing.

    Sited on the seventh floor of the 13-story, 94-unit DeSoto, a 1917 Neo-Renaissance building designed by architects Schwartz & Gross, the 1,300-square-foot residence currently offers two bedrooms and one-and-a-half bathrooms but could easily be transformed into a three-bedroom, three-bath home per marketing materials. The open, loft-like interiors marry classic and modern details, including decorative moldings, nearly 10-foot ceilings, and a mix of solid oak and painted parquet floors.

    A generous-sized corner primary bedroom shares a bath with the secondary bedroom.

    Allyson Lubow Photography for Corcoran

    RELATED: Benny Blanco Just Sold His Manhattan Bachelor Pad for $3.6 Million

    A spacious entry foyer with four large closets opens to a living and dining area boasting a wall of north-facing windows, while an adjacent kitchen sports custom off-white cabinetry, Carrera marble countertops, a glossy ceramic backsplash, an eat-in island, and Viking and Fisher & Paykel appliances, plus a butler’s pantry, a washer and dryer nook, and a hallway with a service entrance. A windowed office with a built-in workstation and its own powder room is tucked behind the kitchen.

    Elsewhere is a corner primary bedroom that comes with eastern exposures for morning light and a large walk-in closet. The primary and a secondary bedroom share a bath with natural stone floors and a marble-topped vanity. There’s also access to perks like a 24-hour doorman, playroom, and a roof deck with an herb garden and sitting areas courtesy of a $3,228 monthly maintenance fee, with DeSoto shareholders benefiting from a 17 percent primary residence tax abatement that adds up to a savings of about one month of maintenance a year.

    The 69-year-old New York native hails from an acting family that includes his father James Daly (Medical Center) and sister Tyne Daly (Cagney & Lacey). Perhaps most recognized for starring as the older brother of Brian Hackett (Steven Weber) on Wings, where the pair operated a one-plane airline at a small Nantucket airport, he also appeared in The Sopranos, the Tom Hanks-produced mini-series From the Earth to the Moon, and Private Practice, and voiced the role of Clark Kent/Superman in Superman: The Animated Series.Click here for more photos of the Manhattan residence.

    Allyson Lubow Photography for Corcoran

    Authors

    Wendy Bowman

    Wendy Bowman is a real estate writer at Robb Report. Before that, she was a freelancer for Modern Luxury and several other media outlets, where she primarily covered luxury properties for…

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    Inside Graham Norton’s $2.6 Million Country Home in New York’s Lower Hudson Valley

    If you’re looking for a lovingly restored home with deep ties to art, history, and pop culture, this 245-year-old residence in a tranquil, celebrity-loved enclave just a few miles north of New York City might be just the ticket.

    The four-bedroom, four-bath residence in Snedens Landing (a.k.a. Palisades) was built all the way back in 1780 by Joshua Martin, and it’s believed to have been an office for George Washington during the Revolutionary War. More recently, the photographer Judy Tomkins lived in the home for more than 60 years, hosting friends like Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Julia Child. Tax records show Tomkins sold up in 2017 for $1.6 million to the current owner, Irish comedian and TV presenter Graham Norton, along with his husband, Scottish documentarian Jono McLeod. Now back up for sale with an asking price of $2.6 million, Richard Ellis at Ellis Sotheby’s International Realty holds the listing.

    The wood-covered library includes a Federal-style fireplace mantel.

    Ian Alexander Nelson

    “Around her dining table, Judy entertained some of the most influential minds of her generation,” Ellis said in a statement. “This home became a second residence for some of America’s cultural giants, who came together often to relax and celebrate their shared interests.”

    Across two floors and 2,600 square feet, the cozy abode retains many of its original details, including hand-hewn wood beams, wide-board pine floors, and three working fireplaces. Downstairs, the eat-in kitchen sports concrete countertops and old-fashioned cupboards, while the library includes a Federal-style fireplace mantel and a window that looks out to the yard. The primary suite sits on the main floor as well, with a private screened-in porch and access to the gardens. Upstairs, meanwhile, is where you’ll find the three additional bedrooms and bathrooms. 

    The primary bedroom has its own screened-in porch.

    Ian Alexander Nelson

    Tomkins added her own touch to the landscape, which comprises pleasantly untamed gardens on a wooded knoll with seasonal views of the nearby Hudson River. Along with being a photographer, Tomkins became a well-regarded garden designer and, in fact, worked on those of some of her high-profile neighbors over the years, including those of Diane Keaton, Bill Murray, and Al Pacino.

    It appears that Norton and McLeod are pulling up all of their roots stateside. The five-time BAFTA TV Award winner and his spouse recently hoisted their historic New York City carriage house on the market for $5.6 million. Previously owned by German model Claudia Schiffer, Norton has owned the Greenwich Village residence for more than 20 years, and he had recently renovated it to show off his art collection and amp up the color palette.

    Click here to see all the photos of the tranquil New York getaway.

    Ian Alexander Nelson

    Authors

    Tori Latham

    Tori Latham is a digital staff writer at Robb Report. She was previously a copy editor at The Atlantic, and has written for publications including The Cut and The Hollywood Reporter. When not…

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    A Hotelier’s $20 Million 165-Acre Estate in New York’s Hudson Valley Has a Regulation Polo Field

    This estate in New York’s Hudson Valley is on a mission to prove you really can have it all. Can’t decide between a fancy designer-built mansion with an eye-catching infinity pool or a bucolic equestrian ranch sporting stables and a regulation-size polo field? The 165-acre property has both, plus a supremely private and scenic locale with easy access to the nearby villages of Amenia, Millbrook, and Wassaic. 

    Records show the current owner is hotelier, real estate investor, and avid polo player Philip Mactaggart, who operates Resident Hotels throughout the United Kingdom as part of Mactaggart Family & Partners. He acquired the vacant plot of land in 2014 for $3.5 million and then enlisted Resolution: 4 Architecture to build a modern five-bedroom, eight-bath vacation home that was completed in 2019. Now he’s hoisting the entire spread up for sale with a substantial jump in price, asking $20 million. Noble Black and Maria Mendelsohn of Douglas Elliman share the listing.

    A striking vanishing-edge pool is nestled beside an open-air cabana decked out for entertaining.

    Bailey Roubos/DroneHub Media

    RELATED: An 111-Acre Equestrian Estate in Ireland Is Listed for $9 Million

    Dual wings separated by a pivoting glass door in the entry foyer flow to 7,500 square feet of two-level living space showcased by a combined living and dining area featuring a raised-hearth fireplace embedded in black steel and a library wall with a rolling ladder and hidden bar. Seventy-foot walls of glass overlook rolling meadows planted with native species and the Taconic Mountains in the distance.

    Other highlights include a sleek all-white kitchen outfitted with an eat-in island and a large butler’s pantry; an intimate fireside media room that opens to a private office via a sliding barn door clad in brass sequins; and the inviting primary retreat, which boasts a fireplace, a meditation room, and dual dressing rooms and baths. Elsewhere are a mirrored gym, a wine cellar, and a breezeway leading to a trellis-shaded roof deck with its own bar, dining space, and lounge warmed by a fireplace.

    Equestrian facilities were a must for the property’s owner, who is an avid polo player.

    Bailey Roubos/DroneHub Media

    RELATED: A 435-Acre Equestrian Estate in Virginia’s Scenic Hunt Country Region Is Headed to Auction

    Created by landscape architect Wagner Hodgson, the picturesque grounds host a vanishing-edge pool and spa that adjoins a wooden sunbathing deck, a spacious open-air cabana holding a kitchen, a lounge, a powder room, and an adjacent alfresco dining terrace. Also on tap is a croquet court, along with horse-centric amenities encompassing two barns with 48 stalls and paddocks, four fenced pastures, and a polo field.

    Rounding it all out is a three-car garage flanked by a Belgian block motor court lined with trees and moss, as well as a pair of staff cottages—one with three bedrooms and the other with two.

    Click here for more photos of the Hudson Valley residence.

    Bailey Roubos/DroneHub Media

    Authors

    Wendy Bowman

    Wendy Bowman is a real estate writer at Robb Report. Before that, she was a freelancer for Modern Luxury and several other media outlets, where she primarily covered luxury properties for…

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    Amy Schumer Lists Her 200-Year-Old Brooklyn Townhouse for $14 Million

    In early 2022 Amy Schumer hoisted her Manhattan penthouse on the market and picked up a renovated and restored 19th-century townhouse in Brooklyn. Fast forward almost three years, and the comedian and actress has decided to pull up stakes again and return to the Upper West Side, hoisting her Federal-style residence in historic Brooklyn Heights up for sale at $14 million. Adam Modlin of Modlin Group and Karen and Kyle Talbott of Corcoran Group hold the listing.

    Records show The Kinda Pregnant and I Feel Pretty star and her chef husband Chris Fischer acquired the early 1800s property in summer 2022 for nearly $12.3 million and then customized it to suit their personal tastes. 

    Notably featured as the Castorini family’s home in the 1987 Oscar-winning film Moonstruck starring Cher and Nicolas Cage, the brick and mansard-roof structure clocks in at 26 feet wide and has four (and potentially five) bedrooms and four baths spread across a little more than 5,500 square feet on a total of five levels donning a whopping total of 30 windows for an abundance of natural light.

    The fireside double parlor is divided by pilaster-framed pocketing doors.

    Evan Joseph Photography

    Standing out on the first floor is a kitchen outfitted with an exposed beam ceiling, wide-plank floors, vintage wood cabinetry, a marble-topped island, top-tier Gaggenau and Lacanche appliances, a butler’s pantry with a zinc bar sink, and a breakfast nook. An adjacent wood-paneled bedroom-turned-library connects to a mudroom, which opens to a Michael Van Valkenburgh-landscaped backyard that currently holds a turf-clad play area but could easily be repurposed as a private gated parking space.

    The main entrance on the second level leads to a duo of fireside parlors divided by large pocketing doors, plus a powder room and access to an iron-railed terrace with steps descending to the backyard. A grand primary suite occupying the entire third floor has a corner bedroom warmed by an original fireplace, as well as dressing and sitting rooms, an office, and a marble bath flaunting another fireplace, dual vanities, a vintage clawfoot soaking tub, and a floating glass-encased shower.

    The couple converted a former brick patio in the backyard into a turf-clad play area.

    Evan Joseph Photography

    Three more bedrooms that share a penny-tiled bath can be found on the top floor, along with a Miele washer and dryer. Rounding it all out in style is the basement, which hosts a custom wine cellar, an excavated gym, and full laundry facilities.

    Per The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the listing, the New York native has decided to sell because she and her husband want to be closer to their 5-year-old son’s school in Manhattan. “He got into a good school,” she said, “and we’re too lazy to commute 45 minutes to take our son to school every day.”

    Click here for more photos of the Brooklyn residence.

    Evan Joseph Photography

    Authors

    Wendy Bowman

    Wendy Bowman is a real estate writer at Robb Report. Before that, she was a freelancer for Modern Luxury and several other media outlets, where she primarily covered luxury properties for…

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    Sidney Poitier’s Former Fifth Avenue Duplex Just Listed for $11.5 Million

    More than 20 years after Academy Award-winning actor Sidney Poitier scooped up an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the park-view duplex residence has popped back up for sale.

    On the market for $11.5 million with Corcoran’s Chris Kann, Poitier and his wife, Joanna, paid just $2.5 million for the Fifth Avenue pad back in 1994. According to New York Magazine, Poitier bought the apartment so they could be closer to their daughters, who were attending NYU at the time. After graduation, the family decided to relocate to Los Angeles, and Poitier sold the home in 2001 for $5 million to an art-collecting couple who already lived in the building. Now that the owners have passed, the unit is being offered by their estate.

    The apartment sits just above the treeline with open views over Central Park.

    Sonia Paulino Love/MW Studio

    Poitier’s former pre-war co-op is positioned right across from Central Park and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir. Altogether, the spacious abode features five bedrooms and seven bathrooms spread across its two floors. Interestingly, it’s the only home in the building with six rooms, not to mention three bathrooms, that face the park.

    The home itself is accessed via a semi-private elevator that opens to a small foyer and an ample stair gallery. Just inside, a massive double living room that is roughly 25 feet square with a charming wood-burning fireplace, a wet bar, and sweeping skyline views thanks to three oversized single-pane picture windows. The nearby formal dining room leads to a windowed eat-in chef’s kitchen configured around a large central island. Additionally, this level holds two bedroom suites and a sculptural staircase that curls up to the second floor.

    The primary suite includes two walk-in closets and a dressing room.

    Sonia Paulino Love/MW Studio

    Upstairs, the spacious primary bedroom is complete with two huge walk-in closets, a dressing room with additional closet space, a fireplace, and a roomy bath. Two more en suite bedrooms are joined by a wood-paneled library that doubles as a media room and a service wing with a large laundry room, a home office, a bathroom, and a tiny staff bedroom easily converted to a gym or meditation space.

    The landmarked building at 1158 Fifth Avenue was originally designed by architects Howard Krane and Kenneth Franzheim in 1924. The French Renaissance-style structure in Manhattan’s Carnegie Hill sports a beautiful lobby staffed by full-time doormen and concierges, a fitness center, and bicycle storage.

    Click here to see more photos of the Fifth Avenue cooperative. 

    Sonia Paulino Love/MW Studio

    Authors

    Abby Montanez

    Abigail Montanez is a staff writer at Robb Report. She has worked in both print and digital publishing for over half a decade, covering everything from real estate, entertainment, dining, travel to…

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