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Behold A $114 Million UES Mansion With A "Panic Room"
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Dec 15, 2013
Modified Dec 15, 2013
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Dec 15, 2013
Modified Dec 15, 2013
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And now, a $114 million Upper East Side mansion with a "panic room"/dressing room renovated to look alternatively like the Palace of Versailles and a Queens movie theater.
Sure, you've seen renderings of a $95 million penthouse in the sky. But people actually heaped precious stones and pizza ovens onto six floors of this 20,000 square-foot mansion like they're toppings on frozen yogurt.
The Violas gutting everything from their home, a former pediatrician's office which was built in 1883, before moving in. The Times allows the excess to unfold with typical understatement:
“We lived at the Waldorf Astoria for the first three years of the renovation,” Ms. Viola said. They moved into the 19-room mansion five years ago as soon as its kitchen was habitable. “I wanted it to feel welcoming, like your grandmother’s kitchen,” she said. So it’s a grandmotherly 40 feet wide, with four mahogany-framed windows overlooking 69th Street, a pizza-primed corner brick oven, brick-and-fieldstone walls, a butcher-block island with a cooktop, multiples of Viking ovens and other premium appliances, and three stone sinks. The floors are made from reclaimed railroad ties “sliced like bologna.”
The family is moving to Florida. The de Blasios are moving into a dump.
Tagged
garish homes and gardens
horrifying displays of wealth
rich people
upper east side
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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