Gloria Vanderbilt’s Beekman Place home is much like the late heiress, author, artist, and fashion designer: layered, whimsical, and full of stories. The apartment, which she resided in until her death in 2019, was a constantly-evolving creative cocoon, where she worked, played, entertained, and made magic. It’s the place she called home for nearly 25 years, and just six weeks after being listed for $1.125 million, the home has been sold, according to the New York Post. [Source: Town and Country ]
When it came to her design ethos, “decorating is autobiography,” Vanderbilt has said, and the story she conjured here is a definitive page-turner. A notorious collector of all things—her son, Anderson Cooper, says that he’s been sorting through her belongings for 15 years—Vanderbilt’s home is an amalgam of the art, furnishings, and decor that she loved most. Every inch of the home is imbued with her touch, from large-scale artworks (including pieces made by Vanderbilt herself, which are now immortalized on the instagram account @gloriavanderbiltstudio) to custom drapery and vintage screens.
Because of her distinct, hyper-personalized style, the eccentric space is surely an acquired taste. Candy-colored walls in the hallway; a dining area clad in mirrors; pink lacquered windows in the living room; dazzling chandeliers hung from several ceilings. “What is beautiful to me may not be beautiful to someone else,” she told New York Magazine in 2018, “but I always know that one thing leads to another, and I know the direction I’m going in.” It’s charmingly anachronistic, totally maximalist, and perfect for the inspired homeowner. The lower-than-expected price tag is due to it’s lack of upgrades—the home hasn’t been renovated since she purchased it in 1997—meaning that the new owner will need to invest some dollars into renovations. One more catch: the apartment has $4,311 worth of maintenance fees per month.
From a young age, Vanderbilt immersed herself in the arts, attending the Art Students League in New York City, where she became known for her oil paintings, watercolors, and pastels. She also modeled from the age of 15, parlaying her knowledge of the fashion world into several business endeavors, including an eponymous collection of jeans, which changed the world of denim at the time. Vanderbilt authored, unsurprisingly, two books on home decor and art, wrote several memoirs and novels, and contributed to Vanity Fair, The New York Times, and ELLE.
The three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom home was built in 1931, with sturdy bones and pre-war charm. It includes a library, eat-in kitchen, and one wood-burning fireplace. The high-rise is flooded with natural light by day, and its remote location results in quiet streets by night. The home is situated on a tree-lined block that’s just a quick walk from the river and close to dozens of restaurants and shops. According to the listing, Vanderbilt’s ground floor apartment in the same building, which she used as an art studio, is also being considered for sale. [Source: Town and Country ]
