tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post1837466418584877486..comments2023-11-05T01:14:14.295-07:00Comments on The Real Estalker: Behold the $90,000,000 Woolworth MansionYour Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14600002907755148264noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-76165222360464276282012-07-15T19:25:09.971-07:002012-07-15T19:25:09.971-07:00F W's wife, Jennie, had married him when he wa...F W's wife, Jennie, had married him when he was a humble $10-a-week clerk and was unprepared for the new lifestyle his millions would afford them. Shunned by established society and ignored by her workaholic husband, she reportedly roamed the cold, marble rooms of the overly-opulent Winfield Hall in Glen Cove a broken woman. Hopefully her daughters, certified by society as a generation removed from the money-maker and making socially advantageous marriages, fared better in a world in which poor Jennie was lost.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-48189879341986606762012-04-29T18:43:34.714-07:002012-04-29T18:43:34.714-07:00I would just love to stay there like a vacation an...I would just love to stay there like a vacation and see how the others live...must be nice.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-63894057740595972352011-03-19T15:42:20.456-07:002011-03-19T15:42:20.456-07:00It was sold in 1995 for just $6MM?? What am I mis...It was sold in 1995 for just $6MM?? What am I missing?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-83705960641555481852011-03-16T09:40:06.739-07:002011-03-16T09:40:06.739-07:00Pleased that today's (3-16) Old Long Island ho...Pleased that today's (3-16) <i>Old Long Island</i> homepage leads with an article on Cocks. Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-17567060279939265602011-03-16T09:04:52.717-07:002011-03-16T09:04:52.717-07:00This property, while probably built with no expens...This property, while probably built with no expense spared, is too over the top for even the typical obscenely rich 5th and Park ave buyer. The majority of people that can afford and want to be in that area like grand but understated, this is borderline tacky. Maybe it is just the furniture and colors used, who knows. I can really see this as the new Russian embassy though.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-10259869377128397162011-03-16T06:35:46.509-07:002011-03-16T06:35:46.509-07:00Regarding the negative comments about décor/furnis...Regarding the negative comments about décor/furnishing, I think the place has been cleverly furnished and decorated for the sale. <br /><br />There are two types of likely purchaser of such a grand and opulent property - and one with such a price tag. <br /><br />1. A Middle-Eastern billionaire<br />2. A Russian billionaire<br /><br />The décor is perfectly composed to capture the imaginations of these two types. The aesthetic is perfect as both sets tend to appreciate the kind of decorative excess displayed. You only have to see the recent pictures of 'Putin's Palace' and go on one of the YouTube video tours of a Middle-Eastern palace hotel like the Burj to know this.<br /> <br />Old-money-types - or those looking to appear old-money - will probably find the satin azure chairs, colour-saturated bourgeois carpets and Louis XV antique furniture hideous but everyone knows they wouldn't be interested in such a property, and not just because of a lack of 'liquid.' <br /><br />English moneyed people are particularly outspoken on such issues and would dismiss the interiors as garish, nouveau riche and tasteless but no one cares what they think because they're not going to buy this monster.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-36599515545752357362011-03-15T16:02:34.246-07:002011-03-15T16:02:34.246-07:00The townhouse doesn't do that much for me, tha...The townhouse doesn't do that much for me, thanks to the awful furnishings. There are many other townhouses in Manhattan much more fabulous. Sunken Orchard is another story, however, especially the incredible Playhouse.The Devoted Classicisthttp://tdclassicist.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-10322188261896658392011-03-15T16:02:13.581-07:002011-03-15T16:02:13.581-07:00Oh Mama, once again I could cry with pride! Your e...Oh Mama, once again I could cry with pride! Your excellent peeking & poking around the interweb has brought us some more juicy real estate porn ––– and porn with a pedigreed provenance at that, too! Unreproducible at any price; I would be surprised if it undergoes any <i>drastic</i> cuts before changing hands.<br /><br />Oh the Woolworths & all those around them make for fascinating rainy day reading; for example, the "playhouse" at Sunken Orchard was parceled out & remodeled as a residence in the early '50s; the courtyard of what was subsequently called the <a href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/7037803" rel="nofollow"><i>Woodward Playhouse</i></a> was paved with cobblestones that legend says Marie Antoinette trod upon on the way to her execution by guillotine. It is also the site of the (in)famous murder of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Woodward" rel="nofollow">Billy Woodward,</a> playboy bon vivant & owner of famed thoroughbred <i>Nashua,</i> from the family's <i>Belair Stud</i> farm. Billy was (accidentally, natch) shotgunned by his social-climbing wife Ann in October '55; she was acquitted after a sensational trial.<br /><br />If the details ring a bell its because the story was told (thinly veiled) in Dominick Dunne's book <i>The Two Mrs. Grenvilles</i> and Ann offed herself shortly after its publication. A sad tale all around that purportedly started when a recent rash of robberies was discussed at a dinner at <a href="http://www.oldlongisland.com/2009/09/peacock-point.html" rel="nofollow"><i>Peacock Point</i></a> attended by those perennial diners-out-on-another's-dime leeches, the Duke & Duchess of Windsor.<br /><br />Other tidbits: Helena McCann was also the first wife of Winston <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guest_family" rel="nofollow">Guest,</a> whose second wife was the notable CZ, mother of Conrnelia (I swear the Social Register is like a blue blood stud book, and just as interesting). Winston's mama was Amy <a href="http://www.oldlongisland.com/search?q=phipps" rel="nofollow">Phipps</a>, an extremely wealthy family of prodigious mansion builders on Long Island that number amongst their endeavors such homes as <i>Westbury House, Erchless, Spring Hill, Knole</i> (via marriage into the Bradley family) and countless others (sadly, I'm not even <i>remotely</i> related, although there was that stable boy at <i>Orchard Hill...</i>)<br /><br />;-)<br /><br />As for <i>Winfield Hall,</i> when Daddy Woolworth died it found its way into the hands of the Reynolds family, and the ubiquitous Reynolds Wrap is said to have been invented in the garage there.lil' gay boyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10115496241247504856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-18808002693438839642011-03-15T15:12:46.415-07:002011-03-15T15:12:46.415-07:00Shades of Richie Rich, Arthur and Thurston Howell ...Shades of Richie Rich, Arthur and Thurston Howell III! It's like we never left the gilded age. "Lovey, put another thousand on the fire, it's going to be chilly tonight."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-67737462696429400852011-03-15T14:30:14.507-07:002011-03-15T14:30:14.507-07:00anon 1:16, if you're looking for a way to open...anon 1:16, if you're looking for a way to open a photo or link in a separate window, right click on them, and choose "Open in new tab" or "Open link in new tab" (depending on your browser type).angienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-81675590459322844032011-03-15T13:39:37.123-07:002011-03-15T13:39:37.123-07:00Just go-jus!!! (Gorgeous.) Love it! :-)Just go-jus!!! (Gorgeous.) Love it! :-)Jeannifiednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-39918225619206283842011-03-15T13:16:04.654-07:002011-03-15T13:16:04.654-07:00so i don't know much about computers but if yo...so i don't know much about computers but if you could make links to open in a new window instead of redirecting me away, there'd be way more traffic snooping on here... other than that this is one of my faves sites 100% :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-84971941678819187322011-03-15T13:08:47.288-07:002011-03-15T13:08:47.288-07:00I'm sorry, but this place is just creepy to me...I'm sorry, but this place is just creepy to me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-28550528393516492232011-03-15T12:51:55.917-07:002011-03-15T12:51:55.917-07:00Thank you for the followup article and gorgeous pi...Thank you for the followup article and gorgeous pictures Mama. Older, larger homes like this are another reason I bumped my 'good taste' square footage quotient up to 20k - so as not to discount and dismiss classic gems such as the Helena Woolworth mansion. I'd be looking at and writhing around on the mosaic tile floor right with you.angienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-83470223321821714172011-03-15T12:07:20.560-07:002011-03-15T12:07:20.560-07:00The McCanns also owned, for several years, Beaupor...The McCanns also owned, for several years, Beauport, the residence of Henry Davis Sleeper, in Gloucester, Massachusetts. They preserved its amazing interiors and donated it to create a museum in 1942. http://www.historicnewengland.org/historic-properties/homes/Beauport/beauport-sleeper-mccann-house-history/?searchterm=beauportAn Aesthete's Lamenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09620941811191294750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-40898656090680150162011-03-15T11:52:51.594-07:002011-03-15T11:52:51.594-07:00Here's a link to the brochure from when 'S...Here's a link to the brochure from when 'Sunken Orchard' was for sale:<br /><br />http://www.oldlongisland.com/2009/08/when-sunken-orchard-was-for-sale.htmlZach L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04464823999255502522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-45026979732173074622011-03-15T11:37:36.985-07:002011-03-15T11:37:36.985-07:00One little caveat, Mama. Woolworth wasn't exac...One little caveat, Mama. Woolworth wasn't exactly a "bazillionaire" if you mean by that he had unimaginable millions or billions of dollars. He was super super rich because dollars were worth a lot more then. He built the whole Woolworth Building, at the time the largest in the world, for 13.5 million dollars, hardly a middling year's income on Wall Street these days. And his granddaughter, Barbara, was the richest or close to the richest young woman in the US at the beginning of her slide down the economic ladder with 50 million to her name. Inflation, inflation. People forget.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179311615101890268.post-16461342648809230312011-03-15T11:27:24.504-07:002011-03-15T11:27:24.504-07:00Mama, just one comment immediately. I adore your n...Mama, just one comment immediately. I adore your neologism, humongoloid. It is the word I have been looking for all my life.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com