THIS UPSTATE NEW YORK PROPERTY HAS IT ALL INCLUDING PRIVACY, 20 ACRES, A GUEST APT. (+ MY WORK)

Full disclosure, I did just restage this house for my friend, realtor/entrepeneur Jennifer Grimesat Country House Realty, but I don’t think that changes what a beautiful and unique property it is. 

The owner custom built the house in 2010 when he had other ambitions and it’s now just too much house for his wife and new baby. With 2 ensuite bedrooms, sunken living room, glass enclosed dining area, chef’s kitchen, pantry, wine cellar/game room/ media room/ gym, pool room and library/ bridge connecting to a one bedroom guest apartment, it’s a LOTTA house at just under 5,000 square feet. But perfect for entertaining year ’round with views in in every direction that puts on a show all 4 seasons. And not another house or neighbor in site.

This listing says,

“Banyan Hill has been built to an incredibly high standard, including over 100 Loewen movable and fixed windows. All lights on dimmers and can be programmed as well as be adjusted with the flip of a button. Radiant floor heat throughout and master control panels in all rooms for a house-wide sound system. 

With 20 private acres of lawns this in farm country, among the scenic rolling hills of North Branch (part of Callicoon in Sullivan county) at the edge of the Catskill Park, where barns and silos sprinkle the landscape.”

I did “sprinkle” my work throughout the house (hey, it was available and, if you ask me looks good) and reconfigured a few elements, but the architecture is top notch as are all of the materials.

Price: $1,1490,00

#REALESTATEPORN: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S OFELT HOUSE IS USONIAN PERFECTION

Frank Lloyd Wright homes are highly sought after and rarely hit the market but when they do, they are often NOT in major metropolitan cities.

But the Ofelt House, (for sale by the original owners, Paul and Helen Olfelt) is in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It’s is one of the last homes that FLW designed and was completed in 1960, a year after his death.

Wright’s Usonian homes designed toward the end of his life had many of his signature aesthetics;

• locally sourced materials
• plenty of windows
• low, flat roof lines
• custom, built-in furnishings

These Usonian homes were FLW’s idea to create an entire community, not just stand-alone homes built to blend in with nature. 

The Olfelt House was one of Wright’s first attempts at his bold new vision.

The meticulously maintained Olfelt House is a wing-shaped home that sits on nearly 4 acres just outside of Minneapolis and the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house still has much of the original furniture created by Wright. 

From the outside, it’s instantly recognizable as a Wright design. The entry features a grand staircase with a low roof that juts out creating a covered parking area. Vaulted ceilings inside allow for tall windows. Brick is left exposed and floors are painted a deep, rusty red. The oddly shaped rooms required much of the furniture be custom built, the majority of which is still in place.

Wright was infamously difficult with clients personal whims and tastes, insisting on designing every single aspect of a home. Olfelt House was not an exception. Wright designed the majority of the lighting, from the pendant chandelier above the dining table to the lamps in the living space, not to mention the draperies.

It can all be yours, right down to the draperies, for $1.2 million.

(via The Manual)

ELLEN & PORTIA'S $45 MILLION SANTA BARBARA ESTATE IS TRULY SPECTACULAR

TV talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres and her wife, actress Portia de Rossi Tuscan-style stone house outside Santa Barbara is on the market for a whopping $45 million. But once you see the 10,500-square-foot residence with six-bedroom, six-bathroom nine fireplaces, a media room, multiple libraries, living room, formal dining room, stone terraces and exquisite landscaping on 16+ acres you’ll think it’s a bargain. Ellen says,

“͞The house is always surprising. It reveals itself to you in new ways every day. It͛s not overly manicured or tidy. It͛s not overly precious or perfect. And it͛s a home that manages to be both spacious and cozy at once.“

As Ellen loves her vintage modern, and the house was designed by architect Wallace Frost in 1934. I think she is a good interior designer and a great house flipper and she uses her $350 million fortune well. She always gets the best of the best; in the dining room, Jean Prouve chairs are set around a dining table by Rick Owens and the living features a sofa and chair by Jean Royere and the art is top notch, as well.

It was originally designed by legendary interiors guru, John Saladino, but Ellen’s version is much more paired-down and modern. (She bought it from him in 2010 for just under $25 million.) But the grounds are mostly Saladino and the natural beauty of the area. Ellen told AD,

“The surrounding gardens and olive trees are almost as wonderful as the interior. The house truly feels like it was built out of the landscape, rather than plopped on a plot. It feels ancient, like it’s been there forever. Like that hill was never without the house. This is a home that honors nature, and I love that.”

A building they call, Jordan Hall, is also on the property, and is an indoor-outdoor entertaining pavilion built from stone excavated on site. It’s all just heaven, if you ask me… I’d not only NOT sell it, I’d never leave it.

LADY GAGA BUYS FRANK ZAPPA'S RAMBLING LAUREL CANYON ESTATE

The rambling Hollywood Hills compound of the late, musician Frank Zappa just sold and Variety is reporting that the buyer is Stephanie Germanota, aka Lady Gaga. Gaga paid $5.25 million. Zappa bought the property in the mid-70s for around $75,000!

The private double-height art gallery

Zappa lived, worked, and raised his family there until his death in 1993 and his widow, Gail Zappa, lived their until her death in October 2015. In June, the Zappa children — Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet, and Diva — engaged in some public infighting about who controled what with regard their father’s vast and valuable archives.

The quasi-Tudor-style house is more than 6,700 square feet with six bedrooms and seven bathrooms plus an apartment and two modern detached guesthouses. 

Other amenities include a double-height art gallery and a sizable storage chamber where Zappa kept his archives under lock and key. This must have appealed to Gaga, as well as Zappa’s “Utility Muffin Research Kitchen” which was his recording studio. There’s a hodgepodge of decks and patios along with a greenhouse, a swimming pool, a rooftop tennis court, and gardens.

Gaga just spent $23 million for a six-acre, 10,000-plus square-foot Mediterranean villa in Malibu which one guesses will be a beach getaway if the Zappa estate is her main West Coast residence. Take a tour with the video below.

(via Variety)

DREAM OF YOUR OWN PRIVATE ISLAND? HOW ABOUT 8 OF THEM?

On a tranquil and protected stretch of Connecticut coastline, the Thimble Islands are one of the rarest collections of such on the Eastern Seaboard. Over two decades they were acquired, restored, updated and expanded. A total of 8 private islands with 8 separate residences, multiple guest houses & outbuildings. 

One with an historic Victorian home with guest and staff quarters that features a private commercial-grade dock and landing service the islands for guests. 

Rogers Island is set high atop an eight-acre island of bedrock beautifully landscaped with rolling lawns formal gardens along the rocky shore. A restored turn-of-the-century manor house sits on the island’s highest point overlooking ¾ of a mile of coastline and out to Long Island Sound. The ten-bedroom estate is complemented by a state-of-the-art pool complex, guest houses, a greenhouse, tennis courts and, a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf hole. The island estate also offers a private cove with two granite piers along with floating docks that can accommodate larger yachts. 

Each of the islands has their own character and offers an array of homes and cottages with landscaped grounds, accessed by private docks. The Thimble Islands are within 10 minutes of shore from either private or town launch. Access by helicopter is just 20 minutes from Manhattan or 10 minutes from Tweed National Airport in New Haven. Price: $78 million

MINT GEORGE NELSON HOUSE (WITH ORIGINAL FURNISHINGS) $450,000!

Well, of course there’s always a catch… this dream of a house by architect and designer George Nelson is a bargain –because it’s in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I’m sure it’s a lovely place to live, but not for me.

This four-bedroom, 3,500-square-foot home was designed in 1955 for James and Sally Kirkpatrick, whose college roommate Frances Hollister was married to George Nelson.

Communicating by letter, the Kirkpatricks and Nelson came up with a design tailored to the specific needs of the family. What’s amazing is that the interiors —and furniture— also designed by Nelson are still intact.

The home is now up for sale by Dave Corner, who’s a devoted collector of vintage Herman Miller furniture who spent a decade carefully restoring the home, all the way down to its original color scheme. (Check the vintage photo of the fireplace with hanging plants and the way it looks today.) The sale of the home includes most of the original furniture, as well as the letters between Kirkpatrick and Nelson, original drawings and plans, photographs by Norman Carver, and books and magazine that featured the home when it was first built.

The two-story residence sits on a two-and-a-half acre secluded, wooded lot and features a wood and steel-frame structure with a flat roof and recessed entrance. What a dream. Just as a comparison, this would easily sell for 4 times that amount, outside a major urban area. And someone who didn’t love design would also sell off every bit of the interior separately. A rare gem, not just a house.

(T/Y Wippo; via Curbed)

YES, WE'RE THERE. AN $11 MILLION TOWNHOUSE–IN BROOKLYN!

This townhouse feels more like an old-world NYC mansion, and at $11 million, you wouldn’t blink at the price in Manhattan, but for a Brooklyn townhouse, it’s expensive. But once you look at it, it might seem like a 2016 bargain (it will certainly seem a 2036 deal) It’s HUGE. Spread out over 7,000 square feet of original details and perfectly situated on Prospect Park West, with views of Litchfield Villa. It’s has been owned by the same family for a century (I once owned a Clinton Hill brownstone with a friend as only the 4th owners since 1869 and I thought THAT was unusual.) It’s recently had a gut renovation, according to the listing it has, 

“just undergone a total, architecturally curated custom renovation blending painstakingly preserved original detail with superb modern craftsmanship and design.”

Nice job. Besides being on the park, it’s got a ton of outdoor space, a full-floor master suite with lots of closet space (not the case in the brownstones originally) a giant parlor floor, chef’s kitchen, and 1,500 square foot cellar ready to be turned into your own private gym, screening room, wine cellar, or office. Kinda pricey, kinda perfect.

(via NY Curbed)

BEFORE THE TRUMPS, NEW YORK CITY HAD THE WACKY WENDELS

New York has had plenty of crazy-rich families (yes, we’re looking at you Donald) but few were as mysterious as the Wendels. The siblings were born in the 19th century, never married, rarely went out in public, and grew old together behind brick walls inside the last private mansion on Fifth Avenue.

Their father made a fortune in fur and real estate and in the 1850s he built himself a big ol’ mansion on the fashionable, once-residential Fifth Avenue, at 39th Street. With all their money, you would expect the Wendel siblings—brother John and his six (some sources say seven) sisters—to live it up in high society. Wrong.

The all kept to themselves, rumors spread and John, who collected rent from his father’s vast real-estate holdings, became known as the “recluse of Fifth Avenue.” A newspaper story back in the day said,

“[John] frowned on marriage for his sisters and decreed they should stay out of society, live in the simplest possible style and wear the fashions of their youth.

All of the siblings lived “in an antiquated house of mystery amid the cacophonous commerce of midtown Manhattan.

There, starved of society by a tyrannical brother, the sisters cuddled lapdogs instead of sweethearts. With stingy allowances and shabby clothes, they slipped into spinsterhood—and perhaps, it was whispered, insanity.” ”

As the 20th century arrived and Fifth Avenue’s mansions were replaced by office buildings, the Wendel home—without electricity, telephones, or other conveniences—and its occupants fueled more rumors. The article goes on

“Spouses meant dispersal of the family fortune, so gossiped the gossips, and thus the seven Wendel sisters were kept moldering in the upper stories of their mansion, as brother John pinched their pennies.”

John died in 1914 in his 70s. Over the next decades the sisters began dying off as well (one did get married—in her 60s!). By the 30s, only Ella was left, seen only at night to give her poodle a chance to run around the backyard (Btw, a backyard that faced Fifth Avenue that was worth millions that she constantly turned down huge sums of money for!)

Ella died in her sleep at age 80 in 1931 and the public finally learned where at least part of the Wendel’s $100 million fortune would go: Drew University in New Jersey. Drew inherited the Fifth Avenue property and it was razed in 1934.

The University put up a plaque there in the family’s memory and you can see below that a Staples and a Panera Bread stands in the very spot where the family once lived.

The Wendel mansion in the 1930s

The site of the Wendel mansion today, at 39th & Fifth

A plaque commemorates the family

WARHOL'S FIRST NYC STUDIO IS FOR SALE. GOT $10 MILLION?

OK, not $10 million. $9,975,000.

The UES former firehouse that was Andy Warhol‘s first studio is on the market. 159 East 87th Street, just east of Lexington, is a two-story building that dates from 1910. Art critic Blake Gopnik, who is working on a biography of the artist, told ArtNet News,

“As a successful commercial illustrator, Andy Warhol had spent the previous 13 years working out of his various homes. In 1963, he was only just becoming known as a fine artist, so it’s no wonder he didn’t invest in a fancier studio.“

Warhol was becoming a celebrity himself, both praised and reviled, just six months before debuting his now infamous Campbell’s Soup Can series. Gopnik said,

“The fire house only cost $150 a month, but it was a wreck, with leaks in the roof and holes in the floors, but it was better than trying to make serious paintings in the wood-paneled living-room of his Victorian townhouse, as he’d done for the previous couple of years. Andy moved into the firehouse on January 1, 1963, and his lease on it was terminated the following May —leaving a gap of more than half a year before he moves into the famous Silver Factory.“

The firehouse as it looked in Andy's day, left; Warhol and Gerard Melanga the day started work as Andy's assistant at the firehouse, June 11, 1963. (Photo, Edward Wallowitch)

Andy painted some his most famous and coveted series here, like Marilyn, Liz and his Disaster paintings. The building is, ironically, currently in use as an art storage facility and realtor Cushman & Wakefield resorted to some artsy language in the listing, saying that it, 

“offers a developer a blank canvas to create boutique condominiums, a mixed-use rental or a luxury townhouse.”

For rent 50+ years ago for $150 a month; for sale in 2016 for $10 million. An early silkscreen of Warhol’s, like this Triple Elvis maybe a couple thousand in ’63. It sold at auction for almost $82 million. As an artist I’m asking, what’s a better return on your money?

This Triple Elvis (Ferus Type), 1963, sold at Christie’s in New York $81.9 million in 2014

(via Artnet News)

WHO KNEW SUPERMAN'S JIMMY OLSON LIVED IN A FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT MASTERPIECE?

Jack Larson, who played Jimmy Olson on the ’50s Adventures of SupermanTV series, was a gay man with apparently world-class taste. Larson, who just passed in September and his late partner James Bridges (who died 25 years ago) are donating their art collection and this small but perfect Frank Lloyd Wright house in Brentwood to an auction to benefit the Bridges/Larson Foundation which provides scholarships to high-school graduates who plan to major in film, TV, or theatre.

Larson & Bridges with their dog, Max

Completed in 1939, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Sturges House has a dramatic cantilevered design with just 2 bedrooms and one bathroom but the master architect’s use of the surrounding landscape tricks the eye into believing the brick-and-concrete house is larger than it is. Part of it hovers over the hillside lot, making the home seem as if it were floating when viewed from the road below. There’s a large living-dining room with a fireplace and a basement that could be as more bedrooms. But the 17,000-square-foot lot is smaller than most in multi-million dollar homes in nearby Beverly Hills. 

The couple also spent decades collecting modern art, including works by Alex Katz, David Hockney, Don Bachardy, Andy Warhol, Richard Prince, Alberto Giacometti, Claes Oldenburg, Sam Francis and others which will also be up for auction. Wright-designed, as well as other furniture from house is being sold separately and this auction marks the first time Los Angeles Modern Auctions is auctioning a home as art. LAMA founder Peter Loughrey says the Sturges house offers, 

”an opportunity to live inside a work of art.”

A spectacular house no doubt, but not many people who can spend $3 million on a house, want to live in 1200 square feet. The Larson/Bridges auction is February 21 at Los Angeles Modern Auction. You can find out more here.