Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Sandy Gallin Is Doing It In The Hamptons

SELLER: Sandy Gallin
LOCATION: Sagg Road, Bridgehampton, NY
PRICE: $32,000,000
SIZE: 6,500 square feet (approx.), 7 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: ...This private one-of-a-kind property offers beauty, serenity, peace yet enough space to host a major event in the Hamptons. Draped by nature and dripping with tasteful luxury. Exuding richness while maintaining its comfort. The 6,500+- sq. ft. residence includes 7 bedrooms, 8 baths and is situated on 14+- park-like acres. Seeing is believing.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Late last week, just as Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter were packing up the big BMW with our long bodied bitches Linda and Beverly and a few extra bottles of the Bombay Sapphire, we received an urgent dispatch from our long lost pal Kenny Kissintell who is happily whittling away the waning days of the summer in a tiny bathing suit while cavorting on the sugar sand seashore of the battered and bruised but still hoity-toity Hamptons.

Kenny, a gabby gal who knows just about everyone who is anyone on both coasts whispered in our big ear that legendary talent manager turned prolific high end house flipper Sandy Gallin had recently listed his big, beauteous and land-locked Bridgehampton, NY estate with a scorching asking price of $32,000,000. The children with intact memories will recall that happens to be the exact same asking price Miss Gallin is asking for his big and beauteous house in Bel Air, CA. While it's admittedly a bit contrived and even pretentious to list both properties at the exact same price, there's a book-end sort of symmetry to Miss Gallin's identical east and west coast asking prices that pleases and soothes Your Mama's OCD.

Sandy Gallin, for those who do not know, has steered the careers of leading lights like Dolly Parton, Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand–who, we hear, made an appearance at Miss Gallin's Hamptons hideaway this summer, and Michael Jackson–who, obviously, did not make an appearance at any of Miss Gallin's many dinners and parties in the Hamptons this summer.

Since we heard from Kenny, the "for sale" status of Miss Gallin's sprawling Sagg Road estate has already been reported far and wide but, since Kenny Kissintell was able to give us a wee bit of insight to the property, we've decided to discuss it anyway. Besides, after the cauchemar of Real Housewives of New Jersey Danielle Staub's perplexing and über-vexing manse in Wayne, NJ that we discussed at the tail end of last week, we need a little real estate sunshine to start the week off on an architecturally and decoratively correct foot.

As best as Your Mama can surmise, Mister Gallin cobbled his 3 parcel estate together in late December of 2001. A peep and a poke around the property records reveals that the largest parcel, at 8.45 acres, cost him $1,775,000. An adjacent 2.49 acre parcel was purchased from a different seller and, according to property records, cost Mister Gallin $1,975,000. A third 2.62 acre parcel, bought from yet another seller, cost Mister Gallin another $1,975,000 and at the time of the purchase included a 5 bedroom and 3 bathroom house. Combined, according to property records, the three parcels total 13.56 acres of bucolic bliss and, according to our bejeweled abacus, cost Mister Gallin a total of $5,725,000. Certainly, he spent many millions more on the necessary renovations, improvements and landscaping to turn a decently located property into a fairyland fit for billionaires and millionaires that want to live like a billionaire.

A discreet driveway shared by a small handful of other dee-luxe digs leads to a rutted and graveled path that winds gracefully and rustically past the 1.5 acre man-made pond Mister Gallin installed and through a few acres of expansive and verdant lawns where one could easily host a dozen concurrent and booze-fueled games of lawn darts or a perhaps a charity event for a few hundred of the sort of well-heeled Hamptonites who spend their summer weekends hopping from charity event to charity event in seer sucker suits, Easter colored polo shirts, $400 summer shifts and bejeweled sandals.

At the front of the house ,a large graveled motor court is bordered by stacked stone walls. There really is little more audibly dee-lishus than the snap, crackle and pop of a luxury automobile rolling slowly over a weed-free, gravel driveway. A slate walkway shaded by a dee-voon Japanese maple tree leads to an unassuming front porch that opens to a bright, white, double height entrance hall that–as it should–sets the stylistic tone for the entire house. The walls glisten with art gallery worthy white paint, the reclaimed, dark chocolate stained wood floors have a light reflecting sheen and perfectly distressed but well preserved antiques are married with crisp, clean lined and cozy white upholstered cushions and pillows.

Listing information reveals Miss Gallin's shingled summer house measures approximately 6,500 square feet and includes a total of 7 bedrooms and 8 poopers. Just off the entrance hall is a large, formal living room wrapped in French doors that open to a wisteria covered, slate terrace overlooking the swimming pool and pond. This shady and soo-blime spot serves as the primary outdoor eating area where Miss Gallin and his decorating people have put a trestle style picnic table nearly a mile long where many of the Hampton's richest and most famous folks have feasted on gourmet meals prepared by Miss Gallin's extensive staff.

Because this is, ultimately, an informal house and even rich people like to sit outside and chaw on a cob of corn in the summertime, the formal dining room is modest in size and features a small cache of quintessentially American looking antiques and an alabaster chandelier that we're sure cost more than Your Mama earns in a single year but is, none the less in our humble and meaningless opinion, not quite substantial enough for the room. A large, narrow, well equipped and wood beamed kitchen has all the Viking brand appliances a private chef could want, there is an adjacent breakfast room and an intimately scaled family room nearby features a wood beamed ceiling, fireplace, a builtin entertainment set up and book shelves that contain actual books. Say what y'all will about Miss Gallin and his decorating ways, but at least the biznatch knows enough to have books in his damn houses.

Mister Gallin's massive master bedroom features a peaked and rough-hewn beamed ceiling and in addition to a queen sized sleigh bead has been outfitted with an office area because sometimes moguls like Miss Gallin have to move money around and take care of their bidness in between dips in the pool. The gleaming white, marble master bathroom has all the accoutrement a $32,000,000 house should including a custom wrought iron rack that holds more than 50 fluffy white bath towels for when you invite a few dozen friends over to use your shower. This folly of bath linens is sort of silly–how many white towels can one (or two) people use in a day? However, it's become somewhat of a signature element of Mister Gallin's interiors and perhaps vastly wealthy people simply use more towels than middle class people. You can do that when you've a laundry room in the basement with multiple washers and dryers, a large center island for ironing and folding, and a couple of full-time, minimum wage house gurls, or as the case may be, house boys, you can use all the damn towels you want.

A detached building building, according to Kenny Kissintell, sits almost at the water's edge of the pond and includes a separate guest suite, a wisteria covered outdoor lounge with a massive stone fireplace and a dock that extends out into pond. The simple, rectangular shaped swimming pool has been placed rather dramatically in the pond where it is surrounded on three sides by water. A wide strip of well tended lawn serves as the terrace where Miss Gallin and guests and sunbathe and sit back and mentally relish in the lucky luxury of their lives.

Listen children, this is not how Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter would choose to shack up in the Hamptons, or anywhere else for that matter. But that's of no matter, really, because we are not nor will we ever be in the market for a $32,000,000 house that probably gets used, at best, 6 months of the year. None the less, whether one loves, hates, covets or dismisses Mister Gallin's particular brand of casually sophisticated interiors that rely heavily on white walls, white sofas, worn leather club chairs, massive stacks of fluffy white towels and bed linens that cost more than a Mercedes, they do represent a certain kind of pared down architectural restraint and decorative perfection and you'd have to be a moe-ron not to recognize that.

Due to the recent economic turmoil and the near evaporation of Wall Street bonus money, there are not as many big bucks buyers scooping up top tier properties in the Hamptons as there used to be. Add to that that there are a large number of substantial estates on the market in a price range similar to Mister Gallin's property and it remains to be seen if he will be able to scare up a deep pocked buyer willing to part with $32,000,000 for a high-maintenance summer house anytime soon.

Other available mega-properties include the Southampton spread of deceased financier Howard Gittis on Ox Pasture Road has been languishing on the market at $45,000,000 after first being listed 1.5 years ago for a spleen busting $59,000,000. Model Christie Brinkley has had her behemoth, land-locked Bridgehampton estate on Brick Kiln Road on and off the market for a number of years. It's now priced at $30,000,000. And Miz Brinkley's ex-huzband, soon to be thrice dee-vorced piano man Billy Joel, has a pair of recently overhauled, side-by-side ocean front properties on Gibson Road in Sagaponack that he snatched up in the summer and fall of 2007 back on the market for a combined price of $35,000,000. And hunnies, that's just the tip of the $30,000,000+ real estate iceberg in the Hamptons.

For what's it's worth and for anyone that might care, Mister Gallin's spread on Sagg Road is just around the corner from the Highland Terrace estate of dee-vorcing (or not dee-vorcing) Count and Countess de Lesseps (they of the Real Housewives of New York infamy) as well as the quirky and quaint converted chicken coop where Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter have spent many a lazy summer day laying around nursing cocktails and eating cheese with our good friend Lee-lee and her canine mate Pood. Mister Gallin's beach house is also just a quick bicycle ride from Fair Field, the outrageously decadent 29 bedroom beach house of industrialist Ira Rennart that, quite frankly, makes Mister Gallin's place look like servant's quarters.

Anyone want to take bets one which of Mister Gallin's $32,000,000 properties will go into contract first?

More photos of the Bridgehampton property can be seen here and scads of pictures of Mister Gallin's crib in Bel Air can be seen here. We suggest you grab yerself a nice, cold gin and tonic and settle in for the long haul because there's a lot to look at.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

His renovations all seem to have the same look. Bel Air, Hamptons, doesn't matter. Interchangable.

As to the laundry room: those stackables are $675 at Sears. Not saying much for high end appliances in that area.

All in all though, a beautiful setting and summer home.

Anonymous said...

Nice house...though for 32 big ones, I'd want to be beachfront.

As someone who spent summers on LI, wouldn't that pond be a breeding ground for mosquitoes?

NewYorkQueer said...

Love the rack of freshly ironed white clothes in the laundry room and I remember commenting on the white bath towels in the Bel Air manse, about 144 on those shelves compared with the mere 60 in the summer house. Perhaps one stays cleaner dipping in a Bridgehampton pool then one does in Bel Air. Be hell to get a nasty paper cut in either house. Go all Jackson Pollack on all that white.
Somehow as beautiful as this house is I can't seem to imagine any voices raised in laughter or anything else. Just a feeling.

Anonymous said...

The well manicured gravel driveway in the Hamptons is the only thing I liked about the east coast property, but I imagine being anywhere close to the gardeners when they are trimming it, would like being shot at in a combat zone.
BTW, the link to the additional Bridgehampton photos is bad.

Grrrowler said...

I like this place on many levels, but I can't get past the feeling that, in pictures at least, it looks a little creepy. Picture almost every horror film you've seen with a house in the country where something bad happens, and it "feels" like this inside. It's pretty but it looks very cold to me.

Anonymous said...

I like it, but for i just dont see this as a 32 million dollar property. They cold, white walls in an almost contemporary shabby chic look, the grey shingle exterior and that long gravel driveways just dont work for me. I say it will sell for 11,950,000 at best. Good post mama.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful house, just needs a bit of funk and some fun. He must decorate it for the broadest appeal - we know it's not something that someone decorated to be lived in themselves. A new owner will make it more personal.

But what's with the desk and the two chairs facing it in the MBR? Is someone having meetings there? I hate that kind of office setup in a house, but it's even worse in a bedroom.

The pool-in-a-pond set up is kind of neat.

Anonymous said...

My preference would be that Sandy Gallin find a new hobby.

Anonymous said...

A lovely, lovely home, but really Miss Sandra Gallin, $32,000,000? I mean bitch, please. Missy is in 6 million for the land, and somehow I don't think another $26,000,000 of value has been added to the property. Shabby chic and lots of towels can only take you so far. A little to late to the rodeo I'm afraid. The masters of the universe who would have snapped this home up two or three years ago are sitting on what's left of their net worth or sitting on their butts in jail. Timing is everything.

Anonymous said...

"Somehow as beautiful as this house is I can't seem to imagine any voices raised in laughter or anything else. Just a feeling."

New York Queer sums it up perfectly. Remember the house with the winding staircase adorned with portraits of pet dogs...was it Brooke Astor's estate? Maybe not every ones taste, but it was a home.

Anonymous said...

People, this is not set up to be someone's "home." It's meant to be a show palace that Sandy will invite 200 of his closest and richest friends to come and see in the hopes one of them will want to buy it.

It's meant to be a very beautiful blank slate...that's why it's got no "life" to it.

If you had seen shampoo bottles in the shower, a variety of appliances on the kitchen counters and various other signs of "life" you'd be complaining that the least Gallin could have done for $32M is remove the personal junk for the photos.

The house is stunning. Magnificent really. But probably for half 32M

Anonymous said...

Love it, love, love it, love it, love it. Just needs a 'real' homeowner to come in a invest some life and color into it. Have to agree with the above poster that for 32M I'd be looking for waterfront.

Lilithcat said...

~sigh~

I desire, nay, covet!, that laundry room. Particularly if it contains a rotary iron. We had one when I was a child, and I miss it dreadfully. Going to bed in freshly ironed sheets was wonderful, but I am not going to iron mine by hand, and I have no housemaids. :-((

If only I had a couple of grand and a place to put one!

LA Ad Guy said...

As nice as that porch and the exteriors look, it's just a bit too Amittyville horror for me...and looks like it would be bug-central with that pond so close to the house. Get the Off!

Anonymous said...

anon 5:29, i completely understand the staging but i feel like they were going for a jeff lewis kind of feel and couldnt quite grasp it.

on a side note that pool is awesome--takes any infinity pool to a new level.

Anonymous said...

11:25 - The least expensive stackable at Sears is $875 so no idea what you are talking about at $675. And $875 doesn't get you a Maytag like the ones in this house. You're looking at more like $1200 a set.

Anonymous said...

The link to more pictures of the Long Island place doesn't seem to work. The other does.
That said, all the surfeit of obscene domicillary excess makes one wish for a US version of the French Revolution. You know when the aristocrats were marched to the guillotine and the have-nots marched into their palaces and took over.

Anonymous said...

he's jerking it at the thought of having two "$32M" properties (that might be worth $20 combined - in a good market). E-G-O

Anonymous said...

Any chance of a 2-for-1 deal with use of a private jet for the commute thrown in?

Anonymous said...

$32million is a lot to spend on something that is so totally bourgeois.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if his life is as stark as the interiors of the homes he designs?

They are beautiful, but there is something missing...money cannot buy everything I guess.

I do love the pool by the pond.

Anonymous said...

I've lived my whole life in the Hamps, and agreeing with Anon 11:36, that pond in August would be a mosquito city, as well as some very interesting huge hairy spider-life that eats the mosquitoes. Sticking the pool in that stagnant pond would be no sort of plus for me. Unless you enjoy being eaten alive when you emerge from your swim.

Vastly overpriced. I do like the rich-casual Hamptons style of it somewhat. It's a little chilly, but this is a guy who's pals with Calvin Klein. And in any case, it's just a summer house- I'd say in use 3 months of the year rather than 6.

Google Earth shows someone is building a big house right next to the long driveway, seems uncomfortably close to the Gallin house, even if it'll be hidden behind privet hedges. $32 mil is just nutty for this, even out here.

Terre Bowden said...

Thanks for the posts mama! Loved it all. As usual, you make my weekend. Mwah!

Anonymous said...

I am so going to start decorating ALL the shelves of my home with thick, 600-thread count white towels. Then hire someone to dust 'em. Those towels are the definitive way to distinguish home decoration between the merely rich and super rich. Genius, M. Gallin!

Alexowrto said...

Any chance of a 2-for-1 deal with use of a private jet for the commute thrown in?