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Susan Gutfreund at the doors to her
Winter Garden room at 834 Fifth Avenue.
Photo: Veranda |
Considered by many to be Manhattan's most luxurious co-op apartment, Susan Gutfreund's duplex at 834 Fifth Avenue has hit the market with a listing price of $120 million.
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The Entrance Hall of the Gutfreund apartment
at 834 Fifth Avenue.
Photo: NYSD. |
The widow of John Gutfreund, dubbed "The King of Wall Street" and former CEO of Saloman Brothers investment bank until a trading scandal forced his resignation in 1991, is apparently looking to down-size after her husband's death last month.
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Floor plans of the Gutfreund apartment
from the Brown Harris Stevens listing, April, 2016.
Image: BHS |
The apartment was decorated with the guidance of the legendary designer Henri Samuel whose influence can be seen especially in the Winter Garden, a reception room at the southwest corner of the entrance level.
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The room known as the Winter Garden
in the Gutfreund apartment.
Photo: NYSD |
The building is one of Manhattan's most prestigious addresses. Designed by architect Rosario Candela in 1929, it was completed in 1931.
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Views of the Winter Garden, Library, Living Room,
and Gallery Entrance Hall in the Gutfreund
apartment at 834 Fifth Avenue.
Image: The Real Deal |
There are twenty four apartments on 16 floors with luxurious, well thought out, floor plans. It is thought that the building's board requires that sales are all cash; no mortgages are allowed.
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The Dining Room of the Gutfreund apartment
at 834 Fifth Avenue, NYC.
Photo: NYSD |
More photos from the 2008 New York Social Diary post may be seen
here. The listing by Brown Harris Stevens may be viewed
here.
charmingly decorated. Sadly it will be gutted after being purchased I'm sure; the whims of the rich.
ReplyDeleteAs shocking as it may sound, you might prove to be correct. But renovations have to be approved by the board, and the is always a possibility that a complete demolition would not be permitted. In any case, with construction confined to the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day, a complete redo for an apartment that size would take several years.
DeleteI am praying they won't allow it! That is the only way to preserve!
DeleteMORE LATER
Is it my imagination, or has the Gutfreund living room got a copy of the Moorfields carpet which fills the Adam drawing room at Syon House?
ReplyDeleteNow that you mention it, it does look like the rug in the Red Drawin Room at Syon House. Because of the enormous size of the room, I suppose the Gutfreunds had it made. Sharp eye, Mr. Worthington.
DeleteIt occurred to me! Yikes! Yes!
DeleteToby Worthington......come on now!
And Reggie Darling......please come back!
This isn't funny! We need you back!
We need blogs again!
Soon! We need you both! PLEASE!!!!
I love big public Winter Gardens, especially in holiday cities in Britain and Austria. But the idea of a Winter Garden inside a private home strikes me as very innovative. Love your image of the Gutfreund reception room with large windows on both sides of the corner. Very civilised, I call it :)
ReplyDeleteThe afternoon sun can really be oppressive in upper floor apartments along Fifth Avenue, but I am sure it is welcome in the winter, throwing long shadows on the trees in Central Park below.
DeleteOne commission check like that and I could retire! Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about that; a couple of people are going to have a nice commission check. Of course, it could stay on the market for years, especially if the co-op board is not happy. And there is always the danger, I suppose, of the homeowner wanting to switch agents after so much work and expense has gone into setting it all up for sale in the first place.
DeleteA striking interior...worthy alone as a perched aerie above the bustling hustling jostling masses...but more so as a rare untouched gem by Samuel...one wonders how much Mrs. Wrightsman guided as well. Wonder if she regrets the quick delete of those rare carved Palms shown on original JANSEN book - now available for about a mil...she swept them out IMMEDIATELY as she considered them old wave to install her new vision...now will someone do the same...perhaps a Bestegui Crystal floating spiral staircase, minimalist to no mouldings, Venetian plastered walls in greige, rolled steel panel floors edged in terrazzo rococo style...oh the infinite possibilities...though it's 'Parfait' all the way for 'Moi' as is...j'adore the 18thC Pineapple holders - museum pieces for sure and the magnificent cerise caftan she is pictured in greeting us all! Another little cloud you whisked me away today on...
ReplyDeleteYes, I MIGHT have relocated the "palms" to another part of the apartment, but I would not have let them go, probably for a pittance (and now for sale at $950,000). A limit on construction to the period from Memorial Day to Labor Day may inhibit today's I-Want-It-Now billionaires. And then there's the decorators determined to completely erase any evidence of the current decor for fear that their new installation would too easily bring up unfavorable comparisons. There are too many examples to mention. But let's not be negative -- the next owners may add even more style!
DeleteAnd I forgot to add that the Veranda article noted that is a Ralph Rucci caftan in the first image.
DeleteRucci has been making ALL for Madame por años - all so very Balenciaga! My hopes are as yours...that someone adds MORE style through Art and Furnishings...though I feel it's perfect Architecturally...
Delete834 Fifth Avenue does not have summer work rules. Yes I am certain. The most luxurious co-op in New York surely belongs to the Schwarzmans at 740, with 19,000 square feet and a ceiling height of 15feet on the first floor, plus terraces, it is amazing. The palm trees were removed from the dining room because the dining room was removed from the apartment to make way for a larger staircase and bedroom area on the first floor. What was the drawing room became the park facing dining room. I believe kitchen access was added also at that time. The current drawing room upstairs was created from two bedrooms. Also, the Palm trees were not added by Jansen for the Blair's, but added by Marian Hall for the Schmidlapps, the residents before the Blairs. Jansen merely kept them in place when they renovated for the Blairs.
DeleteYes, I regret that I cannot include images as footnotes in the comments, but the palm trees were documented as being commissioned by decorator Marian Hall, inspired by the tea pavilion at Moor House designed by Robert Adam. Thank you for commenting, J.
DeleteMy pleasure and thank you for all of your wonderful posts! This was a very chic apartment when the Schmidlapps had it- the oval Adam room was removed after they died and sent to auction. It was most probably chic under ownership of the Blairs and Lachmanns, however I have never seen photos. It's very chic in its current incarnation, however the current floor plan is absolutely unrecognizable from it's previous incarnations. It's certainly possible that a new owner would want a more conventional floor plan. As this building has seen a parade of the world's top architects and designers throughout the years, it is likely that it's next incarnation will be equally beautiful, even if it's not the same. Btw it is a cash building and the new owner would need high liquidity after purchase, of course. Thanks, again.
Delete@Jay you are quite wrong about this apartments original layout.This duplex was a special comission by Schmidlapps to the builder A. Campagna and his architect Rosario Candela.It was and is a very unsual duplex from the start.
ReplyDeleteThe public rooms took the entire Fifth Avenue frontage, the lower floor layout is the same as in 1931- the dining room with 3 windows on CP and the corner reception room, now labelled winter garden.
Upstairs there was a corner library-same size as the reception room, and above the dining room you had the formal living room with 3 windows on the Park.
The staircase was modified too, there were no outside windows overlooking the stair hall, there was the powder bathroom and another bath belonging to a sidestreet facing bedroom .
The bedrooms where placed on both floors, downstairs there were 2 actual bedrooms and a sitting room in the
S-E corner.Upstairs you had another 2 beds and a corner boudoir.The current garden-east facing library was another bedroom.The entire service area was on the lower floor.So you had 4 public rooms, 7 beds/boudoirs and the service wing contained a huge kitchen, laundry, servants hall, 4 maids rooms in the far eastern portion .Another 2 rooms below the current library plus 2 maids rooms in other area of the building.
As for the former Rockefeller unit at 740 Park Avenue, its actually nearly 14000 square feet, the nearly 20000 figure is GROSS-including walls, elevator shafts, vestibules,vents...that is certainly bigger but not necessarily the most luxurious cooperative in the City.