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 one-third rolling meadows with views of the Hudson River. There’s a large meadow with 30,000 daffodils, a rhododendron walk to the pool and cabana, an apple orchard, a greenhouse, formal English gardens, and boxwood and holly hedgerows. A four-bedroom gardener’s cottage, a carriage house with a chauffeur’s apartment, a croquet court, and a pet cemetery are also on the grounds.
The main house features a heated pool with garden views; floor to ceiling French doors in the dining room, a marble floor in the entry hall, 11-foot-tall ceilings, brass hardware, a one-person elevator, a pickled oak paneled library, a museum room, and six marble fireplaces.

Astor was chairwoman of the Vincent Astor Foundation, which was established by her third husband, Vincent Astor, the great-great-grandson of the first U.S. multi-millionaire, John Jacob Astor. It is estimated she gave away close to $200 million to New York cultural institutions and causes. If big city living suits you better than the country, Astor’s Park Avenue apartment in Manhattan is on sale for $34 million.

Sale Price: $12.9 million
Price/sq ft: $1,184.79
On Market Since: November 12
Zoning: 1.5-acre lots
Address: Scarborough Road, Briarcliff Manor
Style: Colonial (English Manor)
Exterior: Stone
13 BR, 9 full baths, 2 half baths, 10,888 sq ft
Acres: 64.6
Year Built: 1927
Taxes: $201,430
School System: Briarcliff Manor
Unique Features: cream and black marble floor in entry hall, all main rooms have 11-foot ceilings, brass hardware, one-person elevator, pickled oak paneled library, six marble fireplaces, four-bedroom gardener’s cottage, greenhouse, carriage house with chauffeur’s apartment, hayloft barn, indoor and outdoor pools, root cellar, hot tub, seven garage bays, pond, historic and architectural pedigree
Minuses: kitchens and bathrooms need updating
Agent: David Turner, Sotheby’s International Realty, Katonah (914) 767-9685

Reader Comments:

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Dec 1, 2008 07:06 pm

Posted by Anonymous

It is really too bad that Mrs. Astor's greedy relatives could not settle the matter within the family and keep the estate for future generations. I suppose that the larger the fortune involved the more greed comes into play. When you're leaving behind millions and perhaps billions it might just be naive to think that no one in your family will revert to an Anna Nicole gold digger state and protest their share of the inheritance to the point where the distribution of the estate might be viewed as more of a curse than a blessing.

Dec 2, 2008 08:33 am

Posted by Anonymous

Want.

I want that.

Wannnnnt.

Dec 2, 2008 09:36 am

Posted by MafiaBoy

money makes some people act like bad children unfortunately. there is still a chance that the property will remain intact if an individual buys it to live on as a private home but it is more likely a developer will purchase as it is zoned for 1.5 acre lots. but then roads and sewers would have to be put in which is quite the expense.