12/01/08

Astor Estate on Market for $12.9 Mil

A few miles north of the former Rockefeller stone manor turned museum, Kykuit, sits Holly Hill, the 13 bedroom Briarcliff Manor home of philanthropist and socialite Brooke Astor. Astor died at age 105 in August 2007. Approximately two weeks ago, the property, after more than a year of legal wrangling by family members, was put on the market for $12.9 million.

Designed by architect William Delano, the creative force behind both Kykuit and Manhattan’s Knickerbocker Club, the 65-acre grand estate is a treasure for those with a love for anything green and flowering. The gronds are two-thirds wooded and...

Posted at 09:44 AM | Permalink | Comments: 3

11/20/08

Lake Views. Three-Bedroom Colonial. Pound Ridge Address. But No Takers. What Gives?

There are 11 homes around Robin Hood Lake in Pound Ridge, each with plenty of space around it, unlike homes around other Northern Westchester lake communities. “A number of the lakes have a multitude of tiny homes originally intended to be summer cottages,” says realtor Mary Ann Condon of Houlihan Lawrence in Pound Ridge. “The result is a sort of shantytown. Robin Hood Lake has larger zoning so there are fewer homes surrounding it.”

Among them is a three-bedroom Colonial at 1 Sherwood Road, with its own dock, lake access for...

Posted at 08:23 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0

11/13/08

Want to Buy a Philip Johnson Home? (Or…Take a Tour of One?)

Philip Johnson’s “little jewel box” in New Canaan is for sale. Asking price? $3.5 million. The stone-and-glass, 1,773-square-foot home at 523 Oenoke Ridge Road has been on the market for about a year. It is the second house built by the distinguished architect.

Want to tour the house? You can this weekend Nov 15th and 16th from 12 to 4 pm. The admission price--$15--benefits the New Canaan Historical Society. Victoria Lyon Interiors of Old Greenwich is outfitting the home for the tour.

Part of a group of modernist Harvard-trained architects called the...

Posted at 08:40 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1

11/06/08

The Residential Building Concierge or Mr. Do Anything

From calling taxis to feeding fish to being the keepers of unit keys in cases of emergencies, the concierge is a “can do” guy or gal luxury apartment and condo dwellers can’t live without. A good concierge must be able to multi-task, have good communication skills, and know the surrounding area (where does one get the best pizza or Chinese?). Talking to a few concierges around Westchester about their job however, revealed other skills they must have: lots of patience and a sense of humor.

At the Gramercy in White Plains, a resident’s dog constantly urinated on the floor in the building. A concierge politely asked the owner to have the dog trained—and the resident proceeded to slap the concierge. Police were called but charges were not filed. The...

Posted at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments: 0