From "The Townhouse Where Ivana Trump Died Has Been Hard to Sell" (NY Magazine).
September 14, 2023
"Over the years, she filled it with leopard print, red carpet, crystal chandeliers, ornate gold upholstery, and a Pepto-pink marble bathroom...."
"One library has a portrait of leopards that hangs above a leopard-print couch and a leopard-print ottoman, both of which sit atop a leopard-print rug. The dining room features the kind of gold upholstered chairs one might have found in a hotel ballroom in 1990 and a gold-embossed fireplace.... Garish décor aside (which can be negotiated with the sale in the unlikely event that anyone should want it), the 17 rooms lack one significant — and costly — amenity: a full-size kitchen."
From "The Townhouse Where Ivana Trump Died Has Been Hard to Sell" (NY Magazine).
From "The Townhouse Where Ivana Trump Died Has Been Hard to Sell" (NY Magazine).
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41 comments:
Of course the purpose is to get in the morning digs at all things Trump so I'll try to add some constructive insight...
...at that price point none of the existing decor is relevant to a prospective buyer. Everyone at that price point wants a creation of their own making. What matters is the building, the location...
...hell, even at the price point of the working man, kitchens are replaced about every ten years give or take...
"One library"?? Out of how many? Last time I checked, most places can be re-decorated, in fact many real estate agents recommending clearing the furniture out of the property and painting it a neutral color before putting it on the MLS. Clearly this is Donald Trump's fault.
My mother-in-law, who has impeccable taste, wallpapered her living room in the eighties in a large-scale, black-background floral that was very chic for the time. Problem was, the wallpaper installer did such a good and comprehensive job that literally everything on every wall surface was covered in this paper, the pattern perfectly matched, including the entry closet door, the wall outlets, and every little slice of the HVAC vents. At night, I literally had to feel down the walls to find the light switches.
I totally want to see the leopard print room.
(My MIL's living room is now very chic in a modern style.)
But talk about buying the lede! Surely even a Manhattanite knows that you can paint - but no kitchen? My daughter just spent her summer internship staying in an Airbnb in Jersey City with this handicap - only a dorm-sized fridge with no freezer, microwave, 2-burner stove but no oven, and about 2 linear feet of counter. She hated it.
The real estate market is not very good right now. People- even at that level- are thinking about the prices they are paying. Then you've got to deal with the look of the place, and that's even a smaller segment- tiny- of the market available to buy it. And honestly, who wants to spend that much to live in NYC these days?
It's not the 'good old day's where anything up for sale goes in a day. It's the Biden Days.
I decorate with clutter.
Just by reading the posts' headline I knew this was an article on Trump Wealth.
Correction. Hard to sell at the asking price. Cut it and it will sell.
Wouldn't you figure? Trump the Great Builder™ left his ex-wife and mother of most of his children an unsaleable luxury Manhattan condominium! A miracle of bad planning!
"...hell, even at the price point of the working man, kitchens are replaced about every ten years give or take...."
Really?! Maybe your conception of "the working man" is a bit richer than the reality.
"And honestly, who wants to spend that much to live in NYC these days?"
More people than can actually afford it!
At 8,725 sq. ft. there should be ample space to replace a galley kitchen and all or part of an adjacent room with a full-sized kitchen and replace the dangerous spiral staircase with a safer one. As rehajm correctly points out in the first comment on this thread, at the eight digit price point you’re buying a location and a floor plan (and at that price point only the load-bearing walls count in the floor plan). But if your renovation plans for the kitchen include a top-of-the-line gas stove, you’d better move fast before the Biden administration (which is totally not coming for your gas stove) finishes banning them.
"Surely even a Manhattanite knows that you can paint - but no kitchen?"
No full-size kitchen. There are, we're told, 2 "galley kitchens."
I presume Ivana had servants who handled the kitchen work.
At that price level, people who can afford it can also afford to remodel it - which is what happens with almost all high-priced real estate. In this case, it can't be torn down and replaced, so it will be gutted and re-done.
In Paradise Valley AZ (our most expensive suburb), you can flatten and rebuild, so that's what people do. The real estate joke here is "Paradise Valley lot for sale, $2 million. Without house, $2.1 million"
Yes, Dave Begley and a new owner can spend to add kitchen and upgrade rooms/decor. Typical in America. That's why home sales are tracked for the economy.
Here’s a link that has a bunch more photos: https://toptenrealestatedeals.com/weekly-ten-best-home-deals/home/ivana-trumps-fabulous-manhattan-home-is-for-sale
A leopard print library is in the first column, third from the bottom. Based on the photos, I like that one the best. The staircase is a work of art in its own right. But the busy wall coverings and detailing knock it down in my estimation.
Personal decor and circumstances.
I thought the latest trend was a house with no or a minimal kitchen. Ivana was ahead of her time.
Oh those Trumps, my dear. Just not our kind of people, donchaknow.
They used to call such decor vulgar, until vulgarity became something even worse.
The white baby grand piano they posed at told me all I needed to know.
People in that tax bracket are leaving NYC, not buying there.
BTW, show me the last Manhattan apartment in that price range that wasn’t gutted and completely remodeled before the buyers move in.
Robert Cook said...
“Wouldn't you figure? Trump the Great Builder™ left his ex-wife and mother of most of his children an unsaleable luxury Manhattan condominium! A miracle of bad planning!”
You mean the townhouse she purchased on her own right after she divorced Trump?
From the looks of it - the price will need to drop considerably more.
eeee gads that is garish...
Cook - It's only undesirable (un-sellable) because of the dated colors and over the top classical/traditional finishes. You get a builder in there to gut it - and it could be re-worked into something great. I assume the location is good.
Is it illegal to do what you want with a property? I am now thinking the left will indict Trump for bad taste. That's how Maoists roll.
Happy to report that bath-tubs are out of vogue. For practical reasons!
Rip that tub out and re-work the room for more space. That tiny aisle between the vanity and the tub is... frightening. She is lucky that didn't kill her.
Get rid of all of everything. Gut it to the studs.
@Rocco, thanks for the link. The leopard print room is not as bad as the article suggest, though it's more than a bit over the top for my own tastes. I was much intrigued by the spiral staircase, which articles written back at the time of her death called "dangerous." It doesn't look particularly dangerous to me. At my age I'd want a railing to grasp with my right hand as I descend, but that's because of my knees and bad ankle.
Leopard print is weak sauce. I knew an elderly physician who had a Bengal tiger skin, from his 1950s hunting days, hanging over the bannister of his stairway. It was a striking thing to see in real life, casually displayed but reverentially discussed by the old guy.
Real is different from a copy. Possession of an image is not possession of the traits that make the image powerful. That is basically why an original oil painting is so much more valuable than the poster from the museum gift shop. That is why giving yourself the decor of Veblen-esque conspicuous consumption wealth doesn't make you a person worthy of the wealth.
The right kind of people (You know the good people) simply do not decorate that way.
Right Cookie?
Really?! Maybe your conception of "the working man" is a bit richer than the reality.
It is from a cabinet builder, take it for what its worth….and yes working man defined as people who work for a living vs independently wealthy, working or not…I expect you're a bit of neither
I’d rather see that expecting to pull it all out than be expected to pay for someone else’s shiny new penny…
Has no real estate agent heard of 'Staging?'
It sounds like she and The Donald are both fans of what is known as Maximalism or a variation thereof.
It's fascinating to see places decorated in such an over-the-top manner, but I can't imagine living even a day in one of those glitzy palaces.
The mirrors in the bathroom have got to go.
If I were thirty and still had the six-pack working, I could live with it.
But these days I'd like a little more self-censorship...
Just across the street from the Trump property sits the magnificent mansion formerly owned by the Versaces. It, too, has a limestone facade, gilded curtains, stately chandeliers and leopard print carpeting. When that house was first placed on the market last spring, the asking price was $70 million. According to the listing, it can now be had for $60 million.
https://www.sothebysrealty.com/eng/sales/detail/180-l-1182-flqtdd/5-east-64th-street-lenox-hill-new-york-ny-10065
By contrast, Trump’s children are asking for a mere $26.5 million, and the death of the house’s last resident is not exactly a selling point.
https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/ny/new-york/10-e-64th-st-th/pid_50650900/
Well, then here’s one you can all relate to- if you’re a prospective buyer for this mess you want to see the garish and unsaleable decor, knowing there isn’t some crazy Leona living there who’s willing to ‘wait it out for her price’. Somewhere there’s a trustee with a responsibility to make a deal…0
Not the house where Ivana Trump lived but the house where she died. Not pink but pepto-colored. Not maximalist chic but Versailles on amphetamines.
Such silly propaganda.
We know that if Ivana Trump had joined the tribe, if she had denounced her ex and said - fill in the blank - she would have been feted on every cable show and her taste in decor applauded. And we all know how to fill in that blank. We all know exactly what she needed to say to be favored by the Democrat sycophants in the press.
Years ago I marveled at how homogeneous Soviet propaganda was. Only now do I realize it’s all in the training. And the more educated, the more ambitious a person is, the more easily they are convinced that these are their original opinions. As was said on Joe Rogan’s podcast, “Smart dogs are easier to train.” Now who’s a good doggie?”
"The primary kitchen adjoins the dining room and features a full range of state-of-the-art appliances."
Is there NY real estate that is easy to sell these days? I suppose if they let those immigrants purchase property instead of shuffling them to government provided housing. After all, those are the only people willingly moving to NY.
Leopard print, leopard print, and more leopard print.
Sounds like an ocelot of spots.
"Surely even a Manhattanite knows that you can paint - but no kitchen?"
No full-size kitchen. There are, we're told, 2 "galley kitchens."
I presume Ivana had servants who handled the kitchen work.
The mark of a true upper-class Manhattanite is to have never once used the kitchen to cook a meal.
Don't lots of (really) rich people have 2 kitchens? So when you gut this place you make one bigger and it's the "eat in kitchen" with all the fancy stuff that the owners use occasionally, and then you keep the second one as the smaller "caterer's kitchen" - which usually has its own laundry facility as well.
When my Sister in law was looking for an apartment in San Francisco a few years back, they found an ALMOST perfect one, but it didn't even HAVE a kitchen. Needless to say, they kept looking.
"...hell, even at the price point of the working man, kitchens are replaced about every ten years give or take...."
Really?! Maybe your conception of "the working man" is a bit richer than the reality."
Cookie, you need to get out more. Try going to a Home Depot or a Lowes. Check out the kitchen sections.
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