The former Manhattan apartment of the Esther Williams, the champion swimmer who became one of the Top 10 box-office Hollywood stars of the late 1940s and early ’50s, is selling for $1.665 million.
The one-bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom apartment is in the famed Hampshire House, an all-cash cooperative on Central Park South, in an area otherwise known as Billionaires Row. The corner unit overlooks the treetops of Central Park and has access to building amenities, which include a full health club, concierge, driver, optional housekeeper and security desk, according to the listing.
More:Read More About Celebrity-Owned Homes on Mansion Global
The sellers, who have owned the property since 2006, learned while serving on the building’s co-op board that the unit had belonged to Williams, said listing agent Brian Lewis of Halstead. The broker is also co-marketing another old Hollywood home: Greta Garbo’s apartment overlooking the East River, which recently went under contract.
Mansion Global couldn’t confirm the exact time frame of Williams’s ownership, as property records for the 1920s building are sparse before 1990.
Williams, who died in 2013 in Beverly Hills at the age of 91, swam to stardom during a wave of watery Golden Age films like "Neptune’s Daughter," "On an Island With You," and "Jupiter’s Darling." She played opposite Frank Sinatra in "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," in 1949 to box office success, and starred in the biopic "Million Dollar Mermaid."
She got her start as a competitive swimmer, and, at age 17, was a top participant heading into the 1940 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. But the games were canceled as Hitler sparked World War II with the invasion of Poland, and Williams turned to acting instead.
More:Read Greta Garbo’s Manhattan Refuge Finds Buyer Weeks After Listing
Unlike most exclusive cooperatives, Hampshire House is foreign-buyer and pied-a-terre friendly, Mr. Lewis said. The historic building has a lot more pedigree for a fraction of the cost of the glass towers around Central Park South.
The sellers have taken the unit on and off the market since 2014, and are offering to personally finance 50% of the purchase price—since units in this building must be bought in all-cash—in order to sweeten the deal, according to the listing.