NICK CHURTON DISCOVERS AN ENCHANTING HOUSE IN THE CONNECTICUT WOODLAND THAT HAS LAY DORMANT FOR MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY.
SLEEPING GIANT
Le Beau Chateau sleeps deep in the Connecticut woods, about an hour from Manhattan, tucked away where no one can see it. In fact sleeping is what this exceptional French-style house has been doing for more than 60 years. It stands empty, yet always well cared for, decorated and
heated, with its guardians the only visitors. Le Beau Chateau’s heiress owner never lived there and it awaits a new owner who will, and who will revel in its extraordinary architecture, proportions, habitat and seclusion. Now, after the death of its eccentric and philanthropic owner, Huguette Clarke, this magnificent house is finally on the market for $19.8 million (£12.2 million). This would have been pocket change to Huguette’s Gilded Age father, who was one of the 50 richest Americans ever. When he died in 1925, aged 86, he left the equivalent of $3.6 billion in today’s money. Huguette Clarke bought Le Beau Chateau in 1952 to go with her 42-room, 15,000sq/ft Fifth Avenue apartment in Manhattan and her 23-acre Santa Barbara estate in California. The house is near to select New Canaan, home to Harry Connick Jr, Paul Simon, Ralph Lauren and a host of top New York CEOs. However, few have seen it.
The rooms are magnificent – the main bedroom is vast, with a large fireplace and a towering double-height window
10 ISSUE 3 AUTUMN 2012 – MAYFAIR PORTFOLIO
overlooking a charming waterfall that gives the quiet house its backing track. Stairs from the room rise to an upper-floor gallery that overlooks the woods, where wild turkeys roam free. The vaulted attic resembles a cathedral and downstairs the kitchen would not look out of place at a deluxe grand hotel in New York – the original metal cabinetry is highly fashionable retro chic. Outside, beyond an apron of rough lawn, is woodland in the raw. The services of a talented landscape designer who understands nature, and is handy with a chainsaw, would do wonders. Whether a single buyer will come along or an investor/
developer will take the opportunity to add nine new mansions to the estate’s 52 acres remains to be seen. Development might seem a shame, but if this can be done sympathetically it should keep the original house’s deep sense of seclusion, privacy and drama. Whatever the future brings, Le Beau Chateau will soon, like the heroine in a children’s fairytale, wake after its 60-year beauty sleep. It has had a wonderful repose but now it is high time for it to wake up and smell the coffee in that grand kitchen. All it needs is a princely kiss by someone who loves it.
For further details contact Mayfair International Realty on 0207 467 5330.
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