Thursday, October 13, 2011

Floor Plan Porn: 834 Fifth Avenue


Listen chickadoodles, today is a travel day so we're a little tight on time. We decided a little last minute to fly up to San Francisco to cavort and frolic for a few drunken days with our boozy b.f.f. Fiona Trambeau as well as much-adored pals Miss Anne, Patty Cake, and Falsetta Knockers and her husband Herr Wordsmith.

While there, iffin anyone cares, we plan to visit the Kabuki Springs and Spa for a long massage, get a new tattoo, and see sassy comedienne Chelsea Handler who's in town for the Litquake literary festival.

Anyhoo, as short on time as we may be this morning we're loathe to leave The Children high and dry so we thought we'd quickly pass along some heavenly floor plan porn in the form of a monumental 15-room duplex spread at the insanely posh and lavishly expensive limestone-clad Rosario Candela-designed building at 834 Fifth Avenue in New York City.

The grandly-scaled 3 bedroom and 3.5 bathroom residence, owned by the estate of deceased concrete construction tycoon Walter C. Goldstein, was pushed on to the open market this week with an asking price of $27,500,000 and steep monthly maintenance/common charges of $9,396.

Current listing information does not include photos of the titanic apartment but based on the included floor plan there are a few highlights Your Mama would like to point out:

–the 38-foot long (and nearly 850 square foot) paneled living room with wood burning fireplace and quartet of over-sized windows with views over Central Park.

–the sizable service wing that contains a large with walk-in china storage closet, a fully-equipped kitchen-sized pantry, and separate breakfast room.

–the extensive staff quarters spread over two floors that total 7 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, plus a sitting room with kitchenette.

–the sweeping curved staircase in the capacious entrance gallery–the kind of magnificent architectural drama Rosario Candela is famous for–that leads to the ballroom-scaled upper landing off of which open three grand bedrooms each with large bathroom.

–the massive master suite with fireplace, boudoir, custom-fitted dressing room plus two additional walk-in closets and a large (but windowless) bathroom

There have been a number of sales in the hoity-toity building the last couple of years including in July 2011 when Broadway producer Hal Prince sold his terraced, high-floor duplex for $24,900,000 to Amabel and Hamilton "Tony" James, the COO of the Blackstone Group COO James Hamilton. In January 2011 retail magnate Leslie Wexner–billionaire He-rah of of Limited Brands–sold their Thierry Despont-designed duplex to property developer Samuel J. Heyman.

Financier (and former ambassador to Belgium) Paul Cejas sold his 2 bedroom spread in May 2010 to ink heir and tycoon Maurice Amon for $15,000,000 and the previous month Charles Schwab sold his high-floor aerie for $12,500,000 to San Francisco based doyenne Miriam "Mimi" Haas, widow of Levi Strauss executive and heir Peter Haas.

The year before, in March 2009, philanthropic Loews heiress Laurie Tisch dropped $29,000,000 for a gracious 13-room residence with 2 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms (plus a 4-room staff suite with bathroom), 37-foot long living room, pine paneled library, 4 fireplaces, and two terraces.

Some of the other residents–or apartment owners–at 834 include Bing Crosby's son Harry, philanthropist, haute couture queen and high society doyenne Carroll McDaniel Portago Carey-Hughes Pistell Petrie who once lived on the 5th floor and now lives in Pauline Pitt-designed digs on the 10th floor, and famously fat living former "King of Wall Street" John Gutfreund and his very social wife Susan whose live primarily in a plush Parisian apartment they put up for sale in 2010 but still maintain an opulent Henri Samuel-designed 16-room apartment at 834 Fifth Avenue that measures in at a hefty hefty hefty 12,000 square feet.

Your Mama has many times discussed 834 Fifth Avenue and its long list of high net worth residents who occupy some of the most grand and elegant apartments in all of New York City.

Kudos to the kids at Curbed for being the first real estate gossip site to present this astounding and astonishing property and floor plan.

exterior photo: Property Shark
floor plan: Brown Harris Stevens