Former Helmsley Home Sees Price Cut

Set on a plateau with views of Long Island Sound, the 40-acre Topping Estate once owned by hotel mogul Leona Helmsley, has a colorful history. Some of the property’s previous occupants include a showgirl, a part-owner of the New York Yankees, and at least two businessmen who lost their fortunes. The sales history of the estate is no less interesting. After the Queen of Mean, as she was dubbed in the New York tabloids, died in 2007 the property languished on the market until it was sold in 2010 for $35 million, a vertiginous drop from its initial $125 million price tag. The owners relisted it the following year for $43 million, and when it did not sell, they decided to renovate it. Last year the Elizabethan-style house went back on the market for $65 million and now the price has been cut to $58 million. All this has contributed to the suggestion that the Topping Estate, formerly known as Dunnellen Hall, is somehow cursed. As far back as 1998, the New York Times asked if the residence brought its owners bad luck.

“It’s got nothing to do with the house,” laughs listing agent Jane Basham of David Ogilvy & Associates, which is handling the sale with global marketing services provided by Christie’s International Real Estate. Wealthy people have colorful lives, she points out, before adding: “Some ‘ordinary’ people lived there too and led quiet lives.” The property, an hour’s drive from New York, was in disrepair when it was purchased in 2010 and has been renovated from top to bottom. Original features such as fireplaces, teak floors, tracery ceilings and mahogany bookcases in the library have been retained in the 100-year-old home and melded with contemporary flourishes and state-of-the-art technology.

The 17,000 square foot property, with nine bedrooms and 11 bathrooms, has been made decidedly more user-friendly as part of its renovation. A servants’ wing was removed – there is still extensive staff accommodation – and the entry way was given an entirely new look and feel. “There was a heavy iron staircase that made the whole place look very dark and that has been replaced by a magnificent circular staircase that lets immense light into the hallway,” says Basham. Three outdoor pools have been removed – the next owner will decide where the new swimming pool will be situated – and the gardens have been restructured. “It’s now a very serene and free-flowing space, bordered by evergreens and totally private,” adds the listing agent. Leona Helmsley and her husband Harry, who controlled a vast real estate portfolio that included the Empire State Building, used the estate as a summer home. In 1988 they were accused of tax evasion by claiming furnishings and decorations for the home as business expenses. A judge found Mr. Helmsley mentally incompetent to stand trial but his wife was convicted and served a prison term. The current owners never moved in and have configured the house to suit a family, Basham says. “It felt like a museum, with very cold limestone walls, and now it’s very homey. I can picture children running in and out,” she adds. Billionaires with children, take note. View the full listing