Socialite Anne Slater coined the phrase, “A woman needs four animals in her life: a mink in the closet, a Jaguar in the garage, a tiger in bed and an ass to pay for it all.” Now, she’s found a fat cat who paid more than the asking price for her Fifth Avenue apartment.
According to city transfer records, the merry white-maned widow, who wears her signature cobalt blue sunglasses night and day, unloaded her spacious co-op residence at 998 Fifth Ave. for $18 million, slightly more than her original $17.9 million listing price in January 2005. The buyer is Seagram’s heir Matthew Bronfman, who sold his sprawling six-story, 25-room townhouse on East 67th Street last August to financier Charles Murphy for $33 million.
Slater had told friends that her 14-room prewar home – where she lived for more than 40 years – was “just too big.”
And it probably was for just one gal.
Encompassing two-thirds of a prime floor, the opulent prewar residence has four bedrooms, five bathrooms, two kitchens (one has an original gas stove that famed chef Paul Bocuse obsessed over), three bars, a large dining room, a gym and the Bing Crosby guest room – a quiet back bedroom where the crooner stayed whenever he was in town.
Other frequent guests in the apartment have included the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Cary Grant and Bob Hope.
The apartment features high ceilings, original woodwork, fireplaces and marble and herringbone-wood floors throughout. Then there’s the long gallery with a bar – considered the focal point of the apartment – illuminated by multi-colored theatrical lights. “I have about a hundred theatrical lights,” Slater told us when we visited her years ago. “I have them in my kitchen, in every room. It creates a happy, upbeat look. It’s very festive, especially at night.”
Designed by McKim, Mead & White, the Italian Renaissance-style limestone structure opened in 1912 as a rental building to lure millionaires from townhouses into apartment living. In 1953, it was converted into a co-op building.
The last listing broker was Kathy Sloane of Brown Harris Stevens.
Harlem heights
A new record closing price for a Harlem residence was recorded Wednesday for $6.6 million.
Sources say real-estate investor Rodney Propp and his wife, Eleanor, are leaving their Park Avenue apartment for a Central Park-fronting, 5,500-square-foot condo at the just-completed 111 Central Park North.
But the society couple’s record price should be eclipsed soon, because the building’s three-level, multi-terraced penthouse – which served as the celebrity-centric Esquire “Ultimate Bachelor Pad” – is in contract for $8.5 million. Propp’s new condo, a full-floor unit with views to Midtown, includes six bedrooms and 6½ baths.
The sale was a direct deal through the Athena Group, the building’s developers, who did not comment.
Eloise-y does it
Finally, there’s a family-size rental apartment at the Plaza.
For those in need of some space, a condo with three bedrooms and 3 ½ baths is available for $60,000 a month.
But even for that kind of moolah, you won’t get a Central Park view.
The seven-room unit with 11-foot ceilings includes both a large turreted living room and a library that overlook Grand Army Plaza, plus a foyer/gallery and formal dining room. It’s available through Stribling & Associates.
Most Plaza units offer custom kitchens with Viking and Miele appliances, stone countertops and white marble accents. Bathroom features include double sinks, deep soaking tubs and marble double “P” Plaza logos. The building’s hotel services are accessed through an automated concierge system.
There’s also a one-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath rental for $15,000 a month. But that only has views of the building’s interior courtyard. Must be fairly quiet, though.
Another one-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath place for rent, which actually has a park view, is going for $40,000 a month. It’s being listed through the Corcoran Group’s Charlie Attias.