New York City Real Estate | Central Park South condo of Bunny Mellon seeks $9M - Spire Group Inc.
CENTRAL PARK SOUTH CONDO OF BUNNY MELLON SEEKS $9M
by Amy Plitt, Curbed.com
Date Publish: Monday January 8, 2018
The Listerine heiress and philanthropist Rachel “Bunny” Mellon and her husband, Paul, owned
many extravagant homes throughout the U.S., including an
elegant mansion on East 70th Street (eventually purchased for $37 million by a Netscape co-founder) and a farm,
known as Oak Spring, in Virginia.
But after she died in 2014 (Paul preceded her in 1999), her estate began selling off those properties—and this Essex
House condo,
asking $8.9 million, is one of the last of the bunch.
Compared to that 70th Street townhouse, the three-bedroom condo doesn’t look like much—it doesn’t have
a garden with a reflecting pool, for instance—and indeed, Mellon used it “primarily for business,”
according to
The New York Times. But it’s still a nice place, with the expansive views of Central Park that you’d expect from
an apartment on the 28th floor of Essex House.
Still, while it is “both lavish and understated, consciously so,” per the
Times, “signifiers of class hide in plain sight.” The walls were painted white, but five separate
shades of it; antiques that Mellon owned can be found throughout. She also widened the windows that overlook Central
Park, the better to maximize those gorgeous views.
Mellon purchased two adjoining apartments for $5.9 million in 2000, and combined them to create this particular unit, which
measures 2,100 square feet.
Still, while it is “both lavish and understated, consciously so,” per the
Times, “signifiers of class hide in plain sight.” The walls were painted white, but five
separate shades of it; antiques that Mellon owned can be found throughout. She also widened the windows that
overlook Central Park, the better to maximize those gorgeous views.
Mellon purchased two adjoining apartments for $5.9 million in 2000, and combined them to create this particular unit,
which measures 2,100 square feet.