Thursday, September 6, 2007

Pierre Berge's Jewelbox Pied a Terre at the Pierre


SELLER: Pierre Berge
LOCATION: The Pierre, 795 5th Avenue, New York, NY
PRICE: $7,500,000 (monthly maintenance / $7,080)
SIZE: 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Berge's legendary pied-a-terre apartment. Situated in New York's celebrated Pierre Hotel, the apartment had been beautifully designed and decorated by Jacques Grange, Peter Marino and Jed Johnson. An elegant gallery leads to an exquisite living room and adjoining dining area. The two lovely bedrooms, both with custom leather-lined mahogany dressing areas and wonderfully crafted mahogany and marble en suite baths. On the 39th floor the apartment boasts uninterrupted, spectacular panoramic Central Park views from all major rooms. Wet bar & kitchen, plus access to full hotel service.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Today we are going to piggy back on famed real estate columnist Braden Keil at the New York Post who revealed today that the pied-a-terre of Pierre Berge, antique dealer of note and ex-consort to the retired fashion icon Yves Saint Laurent, has finally been sold. Children, this 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom co-op apartment, located in the hyper exclusive and fabled residential hotel The Pierre on swanky Fifth Avenue, has been for sale forever. Last listed at $7,750,000 and sold for $7,750,000 according to Keil, Your Mama seems to remember somewhere in the dark recesses of our failing memory when this meticulously designed and maintained jewel box of an apartment hit the market with an asking price well over $8,000,000.

According to Mister Keil, the apartment has been sold to another fashion icon consort, this time to Giancarlo Giametti, the business and life partner of the perpetually and deeply tanned Valentino who is known for flawless red dresses worn by rich and elegant bitches around the world.

The interior of the apartment was designed and decorated by very accomplished and respected designers including the masterful Jed Johnson, who perished in the tragic Flight 800 crash. Your Mama watched the aftermath and rescue efforts of this hideous event from the beach in Quogue, and to this day can not walk that sand without being overcome by sadness.

Done up in a hoity toity "masculine" style that is only seen in the residences of uppity queens, the modestly sized 39th floor apartment has been fitted with gorgeous yacht worthy mahogany dressing rooms and bathrooms. It appears from the photos that each gentleman maintained separate bedrooms and dressing room areas. This might seem strange in today's world where only the ridiculously religious care about homosexuality anymore, but children, remember, these are old school gurls who are of a generation that were often, for the sake of safety and business, compelled to maintain an aura of being roommates and bachelors.

The disturbingly huge monthly fees ($7,080/month) in the building make for posh living circumstances including 24 hour concierge service, overnight shoe-shine service, a fitness room, hair salon, valet parking, and 24-hour room service. Additionally, there is morning maid service and nightly turn down service if requested. Residents can also request a picnic basket to haul across the street to Central Park, but this luxury is not free and costs upwards of $65, plus a $100+ deposit for the china, cutlery, napkins, and blanket.

The uber swank Pierre is the same building where filthy rich hedge fund honcho Martin Zweig has had his triplex penthouse on the market for an improbable $70,000,000 since 2003. Also in residence are an assortment of millionaires and billionaires such as Harrod's owner and royal hater Mohamed Al Fayed, media tycoon Sumner Redstone, and recent dee-vorcée fashion designer/socialite Tory Burch, who occupies a vast 9,000 square foot spread on the 9th floor she managed to keep in her dee-vorce decree from obscenely rich venture capitalist Chris Burch.

Your Mama has no idea what Mister Giametti has planned for his new pied-a-terre, but we do so hope that he retains the spirit and grace of the apartment which has surely seen the likes of any number of high society divas and queens.

Source: NY Post

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

I do not believe Mr Saint Laurent died. He retired.

Anonymous said...

Now I know that I'm from the midwest and am not used to crampt Manhattan manses and pied-a-terres, but I find it rediculous that the kitchen is smaller than a bathroom. Only 2 burners? 7 Milion dollars and only 2 burners?

Think of all the 2 burnered trailer homes I could buy with that kind of money!

Anonymous said...

It is a pied a terre in a full service hotel. It is not meant to be for everyday living. Furthermore, it was customized for Saint Laurent whom I can't imagine doing much cooking.
The price is outrageaous however.

Anonymous said...

The majority of people in Manhattan live 'everyday' in smaller apartments than this place - Also, kitchens are the least frequently used room in most Manhattan apt's ... everyone eats out or orders in - I've still to use the oven in my current apt. after 2 years of living here!

For that building & that area the price seems pretty fair - On 5th you wont get anything cheaper than that with a view of the park.

Anonymous said...

caveman said:
i'm digging it & i'm not even gay.

Anonymous said...

caveman again:
the price is worth it for the view alone, you can still see the twin towers.

Anonymous said...

I don't remember when I've envied a buyer quite so much as I envy this one today.

Anonymous said...

Uh... the only"twin towers" you could see from this apartment is the tacky Time Warner Center. And while I LOVE Manhattan, for $7M I'll take a triplex in Tribeca.. yes with a full California sized kitchen and terrace! As for everyday folk, yes.. the NYC "kitchen" is basically a storage drawer for take-out menus.

. said...

Oh Mama, thank you so much for this lovely bit of New York. My blood sugar was getting so high on all that California frou-frou, I thought I might need medical attention. And a floor plan.....oh Mama, you shouldn't have.

. said...

Money issues aside, I think it's exquisite. The space is very well designed with a gracious entrance gallery, perfect window placement for long views and surprising privacy for such a small apartment. How do you suppose the space between the bedroom and living room would be used? Bookshelves, closets, office?

Anonymous said...

Am I the only one who finds the furniture and the overall decor a little dark and brooding? It feels so heavy and just plain old.

That being said, the views and the windows themselves are incredible!

Anonymous said...

The only problem is that if you have people over and they need to go tee tee they have to trek thru one of your bedrooms to get to the terlit. I would prefer the layout to have the bog in the second bedroom accessible from the gallery.

And no, YSL ain't dead yet, but may be holed up in Morocco.

so_chic_darling said...

Perfect,proper,expensive yet boring.

. said...

I think the second bathroom would be accessible to guests from the foyer. Actually this provides maximum privacy for dinner guests. The bedroom itself would be closed from view most likely. All that mahogany and leather would be hiding any personal effects from the prying eyes of snoops like us.

Anonymous said...

Mama
Can you make a post an tell us about these NYC apartments when it comes to maintenance cost. How is it determined and what does it include? I have always liked looking at the apartment listings and floor plans on Prudential and other sites and feel dumb asking what maint/cc means. What is cc ?

Anonymous said...

caveman says:
hey aunt mary, where would you put dinner guests in that place?
i would remodel that gallery into a kitchen with an indoor grill, gotta have a steak with my beer.
come to think of it, where the hell am i going to put the pool table & jukebox?

luke220 said...

It doesn't get much better than this. Fantastic location and in a world class hotel. (Until last year The Pierre was a Four Seasons hotel.)

Rupert Murdoch paid $44 million for his coop in the next block (at 834 Fifth). This seems a good price for what it is and the views are better than Rupert's.

It appears that it could be 2000 sq feet, not small by city standards.

CC is common charges, the shared building expenses which are determined by each unit's common area interest which is specified in the deed or shares owned.

. said...

Caveman, honey, I'd only entertain small parties here and since the caterers are only coming from downstairs, they can haul ass up and down the service elevators and not need any kitchen space so to speak. I don't do big parties anymore, unless I use the public rooms in the hotel. Can you get foldable pool tables?

Anonymous said...

Stunning view. Worth every penny.

Anonymous said...

It REEKS of "OLD FART". YSL?!.Help me...I'm having a disco flashback.Big ups to Mr. Berge.Especially if that puppy is paid for.Why can't I fall into the right bed?Big city RE prices have never made sense to me.Neither does the game of rationalization being played by most of the posters to your blog MAMA.Native New Yorkers are especially guilty of this:OVERPAYING =CLASS,STYLE,SOPHISTICATION,WORLDLINESS.I've never met a Gothamite who was'nt smug in his belief that because NY was wickedly expensive to live in ...and he/she was somehow able to live there that this gave them some smug sense of superiority.I would take that 7mill...buy a nice place on SOUTH BEACH where they all end up after Oct. anyway...buy a second place in Vegas...buy a third place in OC/San Diego...all of them nice...and still have stampolinis left over for a Net Jets card to visit them all.

Anonymous said...

the decor screams for an owner in a wheelchair, but i'm not seeing any ramps!

Anonymous said...

I have lived in several countries but from the time I was a young girl of 15 I was thrilled with NY! I think this pied-a-terre is grand. I might add some color possibly on the walls. I wish we could see the exact shades and textures of the fabrics and walls. Love the mahogany and old world feel but others may think it is too dark. I must have been an uppity queen in a past life. I long to put my Durers on the walls.

Thanks, Mama, for the floor plan. I swoon over floor plans. Love the California real estate but can never have enough of Manhattan.

Anonymous said...

caveman said:
haha, what the hell do i know?, just an attempt at some humor.

Anonymous said...

anonymous at 1:54 p.m., the only death mentioned in the posting was Jed Johnson who perished on Flight 800. He was the decorator.

While the decor may be "nice", I sure don't see anything that looks even remotely comfortable to sit on.
Maybe it's just my bony ass but the settees don't look the least bit inviting.

Anonymous said...

Before I even read the story, I looked at the pictures and thought, "Ugh, looks like a hotel. In 1988. In Manchester." While I'd love to live in a full service fancy hotel, this just looks dark and dreary to me.

Anonymous said...

Hi Luke

Thanks !

So cc stands for common charges and then of course there are maintenance charges.

Why both?
How do they differ?
Much Thanks !!

luke220 said...

Maintenance and cc are used to describe the same fee but there are differences between coops and condos. A monthly coop fee includes city real estate taxes (the building is taxed as a whole) and the condo owners receive a direct bill for their units so the tax charge is in addition to the cc.

From building to building the components of the fees are different based upon services and building financials.

Anonymous said...

The maintenance fee is ridiculous, but I like the size of this place. I could live in it, but I don't like the living room wall style. Also, I'd have to redecorate and make it less fussy. I don't mind the old-school bathroom, though.

Anonymous said...

Agree with first anon, Yves St. Laurent is not dead. Definitely not. Thankfully!

Anonymous said...

Aunt Mary- Diabetic jokes are insulting. Nothing funny about a disease that millions of people, like myself, suffer with every day.

Anonymous said...

you're right, it wasn't that funny until your whiny ass post.
think back to kindergarten, where we all learned that the only one who can hurt your feelings is YOU.
go have a cookie

Anonymous said...

Hey 3:54...he's dead now!