Saturday, June 21, 2008

Gayle King Selling the Big House

SELLER: Gayle King
LOCATION: Richmond Hill Road, Greenwich, CT
PRICE: $7,450,000
SIZE: 10,433 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 7 full and 3 half bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Elegant and luxurious, the magnificent colonial presides over four private back country acres. The graceful floor plan commences with a dramatic 18' reception hall and flows to the step-down living room with fireplace, a solarium, and library with fireplace...Upstairs, the second floor features four spacious en suite bedrooms with walk-in closets. The remarkable master suite offers a large bedroom with fireplace, generous bath, enormous dressing room, and 22x14 sitting room...Separate au-pair/staff accommodations and a 3-car garage.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Back in mid-January all the real estate gossips went plum berserk over the rumors and reports that television titan Oprah Winfrey forked over nearly $7,500,000 for a glassy penthouse in Midtown Manhattan for her bestie ladee friend Gayle King. Since it appeared that Miz King was moving to Manhattan, all the real estate freaks like Your Mama wondered if she would soon be selling her gigantic Greenwich, CT manse. Well guess what children? Thanks to a tipster we'll call The Pied Piper, Your Mama has learned that Miz King's back country behemoth is indeed listed for sale with an asking price of $7,450,000.

Property records show the Richmond Hill Road residence was purchased in August of 2000 for $3,600,000. The owner of record is a trust which happens to be the very same trust in which property records show several of Miz Winfrey's many properties are held. Hmm. Make of that what you will children, but it looks to Your Mama's untrained and gin soaked eye that Miz Winfrey may in fact be the real owner of this house. What kind of rent do we think Miz King is asked to pay?

Listing information shows that the stone fronted colonial style house measures in at an expensive to heat and cool 10,433 square feet and includes 6 bedrooms, 7 full and 3 half bathrooms. Your Mama hopes that Miss Oprah also springs for a full time gurl to keep all ten of them terlits sparkling clean at all times because you know there's hell to pay if Oprah shows up to find pubic hair on the powder room terlit.

Anyhoo, listing information also tells us that the four floor crib sits on four acres and includes such dee-luxe amenities as four fireplaces, a 3-car garage, staff accommodations, a media room/home thee-ay-ter, and a third floor family room with window alcoves, bar and bathroom. In addition to the four en-suite bedrooms, the master suite includes a commodious sitting room, big bathroom and a dressing room fitted and kitted for a billionaire's bestie.

Out back is a free form swimming pool with an attached spa where we imagine Miz King and Miz Winfrey enjoy relaxing in the evenings with an expensive bottle of Chardonnay when the talk show queen blows into town on her private plane. We don't know why, but we picture Miz Winfrey wearing a shower cap so that she doesn't get her do wet while settin' in the spa.

As for the day-core, well, it's clearly not the handiwork of Oprah's favorite nice gay decorator Nate Berkus and it should be no surprise to the children that it's far to fussy and formal for our personal taste. Undoubtedly the carpets cost more than Your Mama's big BMW but to our untrained eye they still look like remnants from the recent redo at The Plaza. And the drapery! Pleeze. Let's not even talk about all that crazy swagged fabric adorning the windows. Your Mama knows deep in our snarky soul that a mountain of money was spent on all that Scalamandré and Brunschwig & Fils fabric, but dear Jeezis in heaven why do rich people have to swag their curtains like that?

As far as Your Mama knows gurl friend Gayle only occupies the place in Greenwich and now the 57th Street penthouse, but mega money Oprah has properties all over the damn country including (but not limited to) a fancy Fisher Island condo in Miami, a 39th floor condo in Atlanta (in the same building as Miss Elton John), a farm in Merrillville, Indiana, another condo in Nashville (and it appears a small house in Franklin, TN too). Then there's another damn condo in unlikely Milwaukee and who could forget the $40,000,000 manse in Montecito, CA (plus another one nearby), her Hawaiian outpost in Hana or cushy condo she is rumored to have purchased in Chicago in late 2006.

Although Your Mama would feel like we were living up in rich grandma's house, we imagine Miz King's krib will appeal to some newbie hedge hog or some other banker type with a pretty wife and a couple of young kiddies who is looking to move up in the real estate game.

31 comments:

so_chic_darling said...

It's all so Judge Judy meets Saddam Hussein at the the Ivana Trump era Plaza.

Anonymous said...

Wow it must be good to be in bed with Oprah..... What exactly does Gayle do to make enough to own these mega-properties? I imagine it involves a bottle of gin, body paint and a feather...

pch said...

Usually, the windows on these neo-whatever houses are too large. In this case, they're too small and there are too many of them. The whole facade looks like it's squinting at the sun.

Anonymous said...

Hard to believe an eighteen inch entry hall could be dramatic.

Anonymous said...

I think the home and grounds are lovely. Much too large and formal for my taste, but still. The day-core however is gawd awful, and those funeral parlor style drapes always give me the creeps.

Madam Pince said...

I thought Miss O sold the farm in Indiana.

Alessandra said...

Good call on the windows, pch.

Leaving aside the HATE I have for the decor, since that will change, what kind of best friend to a television mogul has a wee little tv set off to one side? Doesn't she want Oprah coming on...oh, never mind. It just ends up sounding raunchy.

And I loathe the pool, which does stay with the house. A newly minted hedge hog can have it.

Anonymous said...

I was hoping Oprah and Gayle might move into the Vice President's Mansion next January - which would help explain the sale.

Obviously, all the other Democrats fail to share my vision. Fuckers.

Anonymous said...

Oprah sold "The Farm" in Indiana a long time ago. The home she owns in Franklin, TN is where her father lives.

Anonymous said...

Looks like her Fisher Island condo is for sale.

http://www.zillow.com/HomeDetails.htm?zprop=2143946548

lil' gay boy said...

Doesn't seem like the big "O" thinks much of Gayle-friend anymore if she been cooped up in this godawful McMansion.

Too close to the road, too many faux details from mismatched periods, a footbath of a pool, and a decor that screams Frank Campbell meets pastel.

The roofscape is oddly proportioned, the windows, as PCH pointed out, are much too small, and the paltry landscaping not nearly mature enough for a property bought almost eight years ago.

Ick.

Anonymous said...

so_chic_darling,

You NAILED it. Ivana Trump era Plaza Hotel. That's EXACTLY what the day core looks like. In fact, Ivana once lived in a mansion in Greenwich after her divorce from The Donald (she offloaded the place for $14 million years ago). And let me just say, when Ivana ran the Plaza, it was sensational!

So Gayle's house. I'm with everyone on the windows, too many too small windows. Icky. I don't mind the pool, but I wish it was larger. It resembles a soap opera set. Someone will buy it, O could afford to just dump it for nothing...but she'd never do that.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know about O's house in Jersey? IS it in Lavallette?

Anonymous said...

I don't understand so many criticizing the window sizes. They are actually quite large. I believe you are being visually thrown off due to the large size of the home. Compare window sizes to the size of the front doors on the exterior photos and it's clear the windows are as tall as the doors are and wider than one of the front double door panels, although mounted slightly higher from the ground. Likewise, look at the interior shots with windows in them. There's nothing small about those windows, reaching from nearly the floor to ceiling, and wide enough that if they were any moreso, they'd crowd the wall.

StPaulSnowman said...

LGB.....Has the Frank Campbell decor, assuming you were referencing the NYC Funeral Parlor, changed over the years? Just what exactly is the place like? Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't girlfriend just come out of the closet already. WE DON'T CARE, Oprah. Just do it already. We'll still love you.

lil' gay boy said...

Snowman,

Been a few years since we buried our dear friend from there, but, no, it hasn't changed much; still looks like it did when Valentino was waked there.

Kinda like holding an Irish wake in a fin de siecle townhouse.

Anonymous said...

Heard a rumor that the condo in Atlanta was where Coretta Scott King lived before she died.

Mike Cook said...

I don't like it at all.

The front looks like a facade from 'The Stepford Wives.'

That plaster thing over the dining room table is heinous.

so_chic_darling said...

Viva my dear you're so right. Because Ivana's Plaza was so tacky it was loved in a way that the cold polished nickel plated Italian mosaiced new Plaza will never be.

Buzzkiller said...

Ms. Girrrrllllll -
Let's be clear. If "O" and Gayle are sipping poolside, they're likely doing so with Krug-filled flutes, not chardonnay, baby!

luke220 said...

No one has commented on the tarmac in front. Is that a helipad for drop in Oprah visits?

Very ugly.

Anonymous said...

i'm at a point in life that if i win the lottery like these two, i'll opt for comfort & function over stupid size every day of the week.
it is funny to see the super wealthy making these dumbaz choices, (6 beds & 10k sq ft for a single) wow, i'm impressed. keep em coming mama.
all i need is about 3k sq ft. comfy couch in front of a big tv, alot of windows, sunroom, gameroom, deck w/grill, privacy, a few beds, sandpiper, functional galley & i'm good.

Anonymous said...

Ooof. This is the epitome of a soulless house. And after listening to Gayle's radio show, let me just say I'm not at all surprised. I'll leave it at that. But I thank you, Mama, as always for the pics!

Oh one more thing: It was priceless listening to Gayle sweat over the price of real estate in NY. At first she was worried about "going over budget" and had a cap of a 2/3mill. All of a sudden she's buying something at twice the price and it's a done deal! Tell me Gayle didn't know the whole time that Ohps was going to swoop in and buy the damn place for her? I have a very hard time believing she didn't know that. That's all.

Anonymous said...

I like the dining room chairs.....
I don't like the "vinyl" siding look, white makes the siding stick out like a sore thumb. She could paint it to match the roof it would look a bit better. And the windows on the second floor are just to close to the roof. And no I don't like the decor, WHY didn't NATE do the inside??????

Anonymous said...

Cave Baby,

À toi, pour toujours.

Je voudrais un kilo de pommes de terre.

<3

Anonymous said...

Je voudrais six pommes de la rue!

Anonymous said...

Like her significant other, Gayle's house is loud, big, and just plain ugly.

Anonymous said...

LIVING 2:32

Take my advise and buy a damn ad or scram before so_chic catches wind of yet another shameless freeloaded. It won't be pretty.

Anonymous said...

Are the left and right of thehosue additions? Bc they arent brick, they are siding. Siding is a cost saving method right?


Why did 3 ppl need such a big house?

What does Gayle's ex husband do?

Anonymous said...

I think the house and decor are quite attractive and show a personal touch in every respect. And, yes celebrities, but let these people enjoy their private lives which seem like ones of sincere love, sharing and fun along with their hard work.

Best wishes ~