From Lohud.com:
Westchester's priciest property: $95 million. Taxes on a $95 million property: $221,166. Living large in your own personal paradise: priceless.
Yes, it really is Westchester's priciest property and it's really on the market.
Hillandale offers 262 acres of luxury with a capital L. Not surprisingly, this is not even your average estate - it's a pristine private paradise.
Exquisite only begins to describe this one-of-a-kind expansive, extremely private property that uniquely combines Old World grandeur and elaborate architectural details with modern ultra-sophisticated amenities.
If your idea of bliss is having everything you could possibly want all elegantly packaged in your very own immense estate, Hillandale may be for you.
For starters, Hillandale's next owner gets a 20,043-square-foot, 23-room sprawling estate that straddles two states (170 acres in Pound Ridge and 92 acres in North Stamford, Conn.), state-of-the-art gym, custom home theater, indoor and outdoor pools, tennis court, meticulously sculpted artistic gardens, four separate guest or staff residences, two barns, an authentic Native American tepee (built for the owners by the Smithsonian Institute), a stone chapel (created in France and reassembled on the property), a private five-acre lake and sandy beach, and, even a little history to boot - one wing sits on the foundation of the original 1900 structure.
Development of the property in past years, including its complete re-creation and transformation by the Haroche family (current owners and founders of Liberty Travel), has been handled with great care.
"The current owners have kept the property as one parcel and were committed to embellishing its natural beauty," said Joseph F. Barbieri, one of two Sotheby's brokers assigned to the property. "It's extraordinary to have a property of this acreage left intact and only 45 minutes from Manhattan, which combined with its extreme privacy makes it uniquely attractive to many types of buyers."
Large doesn't begin to describe this expansive estate. It's nothing short of vast - vast layout, vast grounds and vast vistas. All at a vast price tag.
Vast also means it's actually possible to lose your way just traveling from the main gate through the 5.5 miles of scenic winding road to the majestic main house.
The estate's grand profile continues through the home's entrance, where distinctive antique intricate filigreed bronze and glass front doors (adorned with an 18th century royal crest) open to a grand limestone and marble vaulted reception foyer that extends the full width of the house and showcases a 12-foot reportedly unsigned Tiffany skylight and a sweeping circular marble staircase to the second level.
Pristine would also be an understatement. Most of Hillandale's museum-quality features, including marble, limestone, onyx and gold architectural elements (from paneling to bath fixtures), were custom crafted by European artisans.
Even the cloak room off the foyer is an elegant and spacious work of art with distinctive hand-painted panels, a mirrored powder room and one of the home's 11 unique antique fireplaces.
The foyer that opens through French doors to the home's main fieldstone terrace also links the home's two wings.
A walk through Hillandale reveals one awe-inspiring room after another: the grand master bedroom suite encloses his and her marble bathrooms with onyx and lapis lazuli vanities (two of the 10 full baths and four half baths), his and her spacious dressing rooms lined with wall-to-wall closets (hers includes a discrete to-die-for walk-in shoe closet), concealed audio-video built-ins, marble fireplace, private Juliet balcony and hidden passageway to an upstairs office with its own en suite powder room; a formal dining room with inlaid flooring, hand-hewn antique pine paneling and lake-view bay window; and a star-gazing or sitting room linking two of five guest bedrooms.
Two separate staff bedrooms with full baths and fireplaces occupy an upper level with back stairs to the oversized upscale pine-paneled wood-beamed kitchen designed for grand-scale entertaining with Sub-Zero refrigerator and freezer, eight-burner Viking range, three Miele dishwashers, wall-to-wall cabinets, Indian granite counters, limestone floors, an oversized storage-packed island with seating for four and an efficiently attached secretariat desk, and enclosed walk-in pantry adding cabinet space and a second refrigerator.
A home that claims two states warrants more than one address, the option of two school districts (Pound Ridge and Stamford), taxes split between two states, and a special coordination of Realtors in New York and Connecticut in a marketing reach not limited to the U.S.
Barbieri confirmed that at $95 million, Hillandale is not only one of the highest priced properties in Westchester or Fairfield, Conn., but it may be the largest.
"This is by far one of the largest estates in this area," Barbieri explained. "To put it in perspective, Hillandale is 10 times the size of the average 20- to 30-acre estate in Westchester or Fairfield County. We haven't seen anything like this in almost 20 years."
On the market since the fall, Barbieri said the property continues to attract significant interest despite a downturn in the U.S. economy. "Properties in this price range normally take a bit longer to sell, but we're seeing a steady flow of activity, particularly now that the financial markets are beginning to resolve themselves," he said.
Realistically, who is likely to be a potential buyer? From Barbieri's experience, a cross-section of European buyers, financiers, developers, entertainers and entrepreneurs of all kinds.
According to Barbieri, whoever visits must come fully vetted and more than financially qualified. In fact, because the property can be viewed by appointment only, Sotheby's has withheld address details to avoid curious drive-bys.
An estate this grand is meant for a grand life in a residence ready built for grand-scale entertaining - not the having-guests-over-for-a-dinner-party entertaining, but hosting guests for a well-cared-for extended stay.
Where to put them? Not to worry. With five guest bedrooms (each with its own uniquely designed en suite marble bath) and four separate residences that can be used for guests or staff, accommodating guests is not an issue.
Neither is keeping them occupied. Hillandale offers a level of options that rival any secluded intimate resort. Among the endless choices: a conservatory equipped with drop-down ceiling screen home theater, full mirrored bar and wine coolers, circa 1650-stained glass window, and powder room with Tiger's Eye marble vanity; a heated roughly 75-foot mosaic marble-tiled indoor swimming pool with onyx and gold inlays, spa, wall-to-wall arched windows and spectacular view, attached dressing rooms, sauna, marble bath, kitchenette and upscale custom fitness room with TV and two-way mirrors to the pool; outdoor pool and air-conditioned pool house conveniently outfitted with a kitchen, bar area, and his and her dressing rooms and baths; full-size Australian-surface lighted tennis court with a canopy-covered viewing area and oversized chess set nearby; expansive stone terrace overlooking the property's private lake (Lake Susan) for dining or relaxing; and plenty of lavish landscaped grounds, gardens and woodlands to explore.
What guest would want to leave? Now that could be a problem.
--Karen Odom
