Tasteful Friends, a NYC apartment once lived in by Olivia de Havilland's sister.

I feel every single dollar spent on that decorator and his decor. It's so old school and oppressive though I would enjoy a evening or weekend there.

They were all souvenirs from a torrid summer in Spain.

[quote] Olivia de Havilland's sister

I'm sure Joan Fontaine would be livid at being referred to as that.

I love the decor ! So much personality ,and its a gorgeous apartment.

Love it. Love everything.

Great layout, gorgeous foyer. I'd tone it down just a touch and remove the televisions from above the fireplaces where they should never go, but otherwise I'm moving in.

OP is incredibly disrespectful. Joan Fontaine was a star in her own right and far more than ODH's sister. OP should be reported for character assassination.

Very nice. The plan, the spaces, the architectural detailing, even the decorative finishes while not all to my taste are lovely and well done and I would consider living with many of them. The abundance of white upholstered furniture is a little much, not that that won't disappear with the current owners.

The library is a beautiful space, the other two large public rooms as well, and the balcony off the bedroom end of the apartment too. Even the kitchen is a handsome space.

The only thing that would improve it would be higher ceilings, 10'6" is minimum luxury height and you feel it especially in the larger rooms.

What's not to love? Rooms arranged enfilade, exposed beams, great layout, excellent pre-war building, and located on a prime UES cross street. Everything one needs is within a few blocks, supermarkets, Target, post office, restaurants....

My guess is because unit is a co-op seller is having difficulty (hence price drop), especially with so much new luxury condo construction on UES lately, and more is coming down the pike.

We had a thread while back on same building when Lee Radziwill's former apartment was listed. It eventually sold, as will this unit in fullness of time.

Why is there a banquette next to the dining room table? Is that for informal dining or space for extra guests?

Great place. Love the layout, love the light. Kind of my NYC fantasy apartment.

I like the darker wood library. Would be a nice refuge.

It’s rather lovely.

R9

Could be used for both.

Dining room table only seats six (or maybe five, cannot tell if there is another chair beyond that flower arrangement). More than overflow has to go somewhere. In middle class households I suppose we'd just have people in the kitchen.

Bonus points for apartment having central air conditioning. Wish more pre-war units would do same instead of hanging them out of windows.

[quote] Dining room table only seats six (or maybe five

She'd have been fortunate if five would've accepted her invitations.

Bit of history of recent work....

A little overstuffed with stuff, but I like it.

Listing for penthouse unit from 2014...

More about that penthouse unit and building in general courtesy of NYT.

Is anyone else uncomfortable with the elevator opening directly into your own apartment? I wouldn't be able to sleep!

Terrific layout. Decor not to my taste, but very well done.

I wish I had the money. Great place. You can always change the decor, but the layout here is primo.

They should reconstruct the urns.

As usual, entry from favourite blog about Manhattan buildings...

"Actress Joan Fontaine divided her time between her fifth floor apartment and her Eaton Square residence in London. In the spring of 1966 she was in Britain, so she offered the apartment at No. 160 to Vivien Leigh and Jack Merivale who were appearing in the Broadway production of Anton Chekhov's Ivanov, directed by John Gielgud. (Leigh and Merivale had been involved in an undisguised romantic relationship since 1958, even before her 1960 divorce from Lawrence Olivier.) The two remained in the apartment throughout rehearsals and then for the five and a half weeks the play ran.

Artist Don Bachardy described visiting Fontaine's apartment in 1976 in his 2000 book Stars in My Eyes. He eyed a red-varnished wooden armchair as a possible seat for the actress to pose.

I learned from her later that the tiger's head of the seat had been designed by Salvador Dali especially for her, and that she herself had executed the needlepoint work. I asked if it would be a comfortable chair for her. 'Yes, perfectly.' Her tone implied: Why else would it be in my sitting room?"

[quote] A little overstuffed

The same could be same of Joan.

R2 The photography in that movie looks very muddy. I guess it was filmed by some Spaniard unused to Technicolor.

R19

Elevator doors can be locked so won't open. Did you think people just left elevator doors "open" so people could simply come up and into apartment anytime they wished?

Friends live in a condo down in SoHo which was a former manufacturing building. Elevator opens onto their apartment but they keep it locked.

Also with these sort of elevators controls can be set so the thing has to be "sent" down to lobby or whatever for picking up passengers. In other words just because someone gains entry to lobby or whatever, doesn't mean by pressing button for the lift, it will come down, doors open, then take them to whatever floor desired.

In addition to above as stated if doors are "locked" on a particular floor it won't matter how one gets into elevator. Upon reaching desired floor doors simply won't open.

Im not really a wall paper person, but I love the pattern in the foyer.

[quote]Also with these sort of elevators controls can be set so the thing has to be "sent" down to lobby or whatever for picking up passengers. In other words just because someone gains entry to lobby or whatever, doesn't mean by pressing button for the lift, it will come down, doors open, then take them to whatever floor desired.

What if no one else is home to send the elevator down when you (the owner) are at the lobby?

Why do people hang paintings on shelves?

Residents have keys that operate elevator. Same sort you see firemen, building superintendent and others use.

Fancy!

Joan Fontaine > boring Gone with the Wind bitch

There is a television over every single fireplace in that apartment! I am aghast!

Describing Joan Fontaine as "Olivia de Havilland's sister"?!!

OP is clearly Olivia posting from beyond the grave.

I spy Christopher Spitzmiller lamps (swoon)

beautiful, but anytime I see the room's focus is the tv, I lose respect

Joan was elegant to the end— despite her twisted jaw, dentures and yellow teeth.

She had yellowed dentures? WTF?

Most people over 40 have dentures.

You can see her faded teeth in the latter color pictures.

[quote]Joan was elegant to the end— despite her twisted jaw, dentures and yellow teeth.

Wow, you loved her, you REALLY loved her!

Love the large painting of the skaters…

R39 Yes, she held herself well.

I think I glanced her back in the 80s. I was on the wharf while reclined on a deckchair on the upper deck of an international liner cruising through the Southern Ocean.

Where did Joan get her money?

Gentlemen callers.

[quote]Most people over 40 have dentures.

Where do you live that most over 40 have dentures?

I didn't have a sister, you cunts!

*sniffs*

America.

People never admit to it.

OdH is smiling from the grave at Joan Bennett being identified that way

Olivia de Who-villand?

I suppose I could be forced to live in either Joan's humble abode or even the penthouse. Go ahead and offer them to me, if you dare.

If ever an apartment was deserving of a “gowns by” credit, this is it.

All my thoughts have already been noted here. To me, it's just about perfect. And the furniture is off-white, or ivory. Not white-white. Makes all the difference.

[quote] Not white-white.

Italian designer?

Gorgeous apt, but 8M and no outdoor space?

R53, there's clearly a window with a tree and other vegetal matter that you can see through it.

R54 This tree reaches only to the second floor Not the fifth.

That tree - so young.

R55, I can clearly see the tree.

Where did Joan get her money? She was under contract to Selznick for some time but he kept most of the fees he received for a loan out. We’re her parents wealthy? Did she win great divorce settlements? Did she get great stock tips? Probably the latter.

[quote] great divorce settlements

Did she marry that awful Charles Kohen Feldman?

I used to like that look more. Now it feels like stagnant, dead energy to swaddle oneself in so much stuff. I couldn't breathe in that place. But gorgeous pieces when taken individually. And I have definitely seen worse as far as clutter.

No fresh air in those places. All that unaired intestinal gas in those nooks and crannies.

That is EXACTLY how Joan Fontaine SHOULD have lived.

Looking again, it really is a near perfect apartment. A big space, but not uselessly so with long ranges of hotel like bedrooms and big service areas. A kitchen that's bright and rather beautiful, even, and practical. Bathrooms eith leafy views. All that light flooding into thentriple-aspect dining room. The handsome, oversize casement windows.

The only decorator touch I would definitely want to change is the purple lacquered corridor between the bedrooms at the rear and the entry hall. Not saying I would keep everything else if sold furnished, but for once that prospect is not at all frightening.

I would make the smaller middle bedroom with its balcony and blue patterned wallpaper as mine. It's a beautiful space.

R58: I remember her from game shows and commercials--pain relievers, probably also coffee. She did a soap and some tv movies. Never did "Murder She Wrote" or "Love Boat"--would have expected her to do both.

[quote] commercials--pain relievers

Ironic. She was known for inducing it.

Like many others from Hollywood's golden era, Joan Fontaine did her share of television work in 1960's which helped pay bills.

Teamed with Garry Merrill (who did tons of television in 1960's) in Alfred Hitchcock Hour "The Paragon"

What do they call those temporary safety corridors that pedestrians walk beneath?

You can always tell NYC sidewalks when that walk-through of plywood and metal pipes has been thrown up. Why are there so many, and why do they never seem to remove them? It's as if once they are constructed, they never come down.

What is going on with that?

R67

"Sidewalk sheds" or "scaffolding". Either way they are an annoyance and yes, are everywhere in city nowadays.

Homeless set up camp underneath, rats and other vermin arrive as well. Some buildings have them up for years or even decades. Not so much because work is ongoing, but fact they are unstable so to keep bits from falling off and hitting pedestrians.

Thanks R68, yes, scaffolding. Whomever is supplying the city must be making serious bank.

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Have a look through auction catalog for some of Joan Fontaine's personal wardrobe put up for the bid. Things didn't fetch very much money nor even interest it seems. Some lots only had one or three bidders.

Mind you how much of a market would there be for an old woman's Chanel suits?

It's cheaper for NY property owners/landlords to pay the fines for keeping the scaffolding up longer than is allowed than to actually take it down. Truth.

R71: Does Julien's auction house ever bring good prices overall?

It seems a venue of last resort for making some coins on celebrity cast-offs and leftover bits. I've bought a few off things there for nothing where the "celebrity auction" status just meant that it was overlooked by the more knowledgeable buyers from other auctions. Placing goods of any value in a celebrity auction can backfire in not getting the interest it would get in a respectable art and antiques auction house. Selling some old rags and household odds and ends of celebrity provenance at Julien's may bring more money than at the local no name auction house, but not much, and at a cost of reputation of the dead.

Some of their sales must do something right, I've just never seen anyone good that brought a good price at their auctions.

Yes, Julien's fetches some good money depending on who and what.

I loved Fontaine in Suspicion.

I feel funny asking, but was she as nasty as her sister?

Thats a great place, lots of colours and patterns, could live with it as it stands. I'd probably change out the white furniture. Its not badly priced, but over $120K maintenance a year..

Vintage Chanel can go for decent money. I've seen shoes so worn out that it seems embarrassing to even consider buying them, go for many hundreds of dollars. Old, classic Chanel suits, jewelry (and fake as in not real gold or stones of any value), and of course handbags, go for very high prices even when compared to what they originally sold for. Classic Chanel has great value.

Yes, apparently Julien's does very well with certain offerings. It all comes down to provenance I suppose, and of course what is being offered.

R38

You must be rather old, or just not very well informed.

Advances and spread of access (not always affordable, but still one does what one has to do) dental care has meant fewer people need full or even partial dentures in "old age" as it were.

This is also largely result of education about better oral hygiene such as importance of brushing teeth after meals, flossing at least once a day, fluoride in municipal tap water or toothpaste, etc...

if you look at pictures of people in 1920's, 1930's and even 1940's you see mouth after mouth of nasty teeth. This was especially true among those from lower classes, but was seen by those in middle and above as well.

OTOH Europeans on average were somewhat amazed at "Yanks" (American military) who showed up from UK to all over Europe with mouths full of dazzling white, straight teeth. Indicating they at least had access to good dentists as children and young adults, along with practicing good oral hygiene.

Arrival and widespread use of antibiotics post WWII meant infections like periodontal and others which were major causes of tooth loss could be controlled if not cured.

A 2016 Datalounge thread on an unhappy NYC-London house swap of Joan Fontaine and Vivien LeighÑ

R58

From linked DL thread in R79 Ms. Fontaine invested well and early, earning comfortable returns apparently. If what is in R79 is true JF invested in San Fernando Valley real estate, which boomed from middle about middle 1940's through 1960's.

IIRC Greta Garbo, Fred MacMurray and other Hollywood actors from golden era invested in CA real estate. Those who could and did invest say prior to WWII when much of CA was a different place, would reap rewards later on in 1950's onward as post war boom set off waves of construction.

Joan Fontaine famously quipped that she sold her NYC apartment for "20 times what I paid".

Looking through the Julien’s catalog. Stella Stevens, an ermine fur coat, interesting asymmetrical design, $156.25. A more traditional mink coat and a Fox stole went for $250.

I know fur is never coming back in style but jeez.

Wow, r81. That's like the rock bottom prices for quality "brown furniture". Well its a bonanza for young punk and retro girls who want to wear GOOD fur, not ratty fur. Do such girls still exist?

Here is a dead listing of an apartment on the 11th floor, very close in plan but less the kitchen pantry and, at the public spaces at the front, just two rooms, the larger one with double-height ceilings of 30 feet.

What a room with the high ceilings and huge windows.

Problem with fur nowadays it has become so toxic. Just walking down street or in public and you never know what might happen. Deranged tree hugging animal rights loon approaches and begins hurling abuse , and or at least a well reasoned lecture on what they consider an unfortunate fashion choice.

Few restaurants or other public accommodations accept furs at coat checks. So you have to lug the thing around, or place it on chair. Latter leaves it open to theft or being damaged (intentionally or otherwise).

In many areas such as here in NYC it just doesn't get cold enough for long periods to warrant investing in a fur coat. A hat, jacket or something small maybe, but not a full length coat.

Bloomingdales closed their fur salon a few years ago, and think they were the last. Macys and others did so as well.

R76

Yes, decent Chanel can go for good money. But apparently no one wanted those grand-mama old suits of Joan Fontaine's. Elizabeth II might, but she can afford to buy new.

I had no idea about the coat check situation. I've lived in Europe and North Africa for over 20 years.

When it’s -20°F, a long fur coat is your best option but it doesn’t get that cold very often in the lower 48.

Joan’s suits seemed mostly Castleberry, not Chanel.

You can still see plenty of dames wearing fur on Madison Avenue on a reasonably cold Saturday. It's not unusual to see them going into the theater. I never see them in DC and or in classic cold weather cities like Cleveland (where I attended a Cleveland Orchestra concert in the dead of January with plenty of traditionally well dressed old people).

Am willing to bet many of those grand dames on Madison avenue Saturdays are tourists.

Yes, women who still own fur coats will haul them out if it gets chilly enough I suppose. But fewer do than in past, and it's not often that chilly in NYC during winter. Best we seem to manage nowadays is maybe a week or maybe two of steady temps < 30 degrees F. Usually it's only a few days before daytime times are back up in high 30's into forties.

Haven't bought a new winter coat in ages. Can manage most of winter with assorted hoodies, down vests and nice flannel shirts. In fact for many guys now sport coats are out, and various vests are in....

More..

East 72nd is very noisy. Noisier than most UES side streets.

Not it isn't, and by evening and certainly late/overnight East 72nd from Fifth to First is quiet as any other part of Lenox Hill or UES in general.

Besides you obviously are not familiar with "two brick thick" prewar apartment buildings.

Between walls few bricks thick, then interior plaster walls (or heavy dry wall), and windows that shut tightly, inside of most prewar buildings, especially those built for upper end of market have near interiors that are nearly quiet as mausoleums.

New York City long as been a noisy place, and many of these buildings went up in 1920's and 1930's when automobile traffic was actually worse than today (avenues in Manhattan were two way, so you can imagine the chaos). Developers of these buildings saw to it much is technology of time would allow, exterior noise intruding upon interior was muffled much as possible.

Park Avenue between 75th and 78th has Lenox Hill hospital to contend with, and you don't see values from those buildings suffering from street traffic noise along with blaring sirens. The latter happen pretty much 24/7.

I'll take it!

It's sterile and unappealing, just like my sister.

It’s amazing how many windows it has and each bedroom has its own bathroom in an old building.. Good layout. The library is my favorite, the beige living room my least but that’s easily fixed.

Have friends and co-workers who live in co-ops down in Tribeca, SoHo and West Village. None have nor want doormen.

Building lobbies often now are two door affairs. One opens into vestibule, other into main lobby. As in Europe these sort of doors one will not open while other is also. So you cannot hold one from street to vestibule open while door from vestibule to lobby is open as well. Someone inside apartment must buzz people in twice.

From lobby elevator is sent down by resident, and while they open onto floors that serve more than one apartment, are essentially "locked" as won't operate from lobby unless "sent". Tenants aside from having keys to both sets of doors, also have same to operate elevator.

Long story short even if someone gets into lobby they aren't going anywhere else in building. Every door including elevator is "locked".

Guys, look at floorplan for apartment, then consult Google street view for image of outside of building. There is just the one lonely sad tree in front of 160 East 72nd, and it hardly provides lush greenery seen in pictures from interior shots.

Rear garden OTOH has plenty of plantings, as does the side of building facing Lexington avenue where Juliette balcony for one of bedrooms is located.

Unlike many other buildings there is a break in façade between 158 East 72nd and corner building on Lexington avenue. So instead of a dark airshaft sort of space you have an open one with light and air.

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Forgot floor plan...

To Tell The Truth - 13 May 1958

Panel: Polly Bergen, Jim Backus, Joan Fontaine, and Hy Gardner

Show was filmed in NYC at that time so Joan just swanned down to studio from her UES apartment. Wonder if she insisted they send a car to fetch Miss Fontaine, then drive her home afterwards. This would be in addition to her fee of course.

Joan Fontaine seemed to do quite a bit of "To Tell The Truth"..

Here she is back as panelist in 1966.

^ I'm glad she dressed properly in 1966. Because she was underdressed in '58.

[quote] ....was filmed in NYC at that time so Joan just swanned down to studio from her UES apartment. Wonder if she insisted they send a car to fetch Miss Fontaine, then drive her home afterwards.

I hope not. The lazy bitch could have used the exercise.