Hamptons' Storied Grey Gardens Estate Has a Buyer

Sally Quinn, wife of former Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee, has revealed to the Post that she indeed has a buyer for the fabled Grey Gardens estate, which was originally listed on the market for $19.995 million in February and took a price cut to $17.995 million in April. The final sale price is not known at this time.

As an added bonus for the curious, Quinn will hold an estate sale to sell the furnishings, including some items belonging to “Big Edie” and “Little Edie” — the loopy mother and daughter who lived in decrepit conditions in Grey Gardens before the property’s rehabilitation by Quinn and Bradlee.

The home earned its immortality after a 1975 documentary called “Grey Gardens” told the story of a reclusive, formerly wealthy, mother-daughter duo both named Edith Beale (“Big Edie” and “Little Edie”) who let the place crumble around them — all in the company of way too many cats.

The critically acclaimed film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry after being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” It did not hurt matters that Edie duo were the aunt and cousin of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore starred in a 2009 HBO film about the Beales, also called “Grey Gardens.”

Grey Gardens as it looked in the 1970s. (Photo courtesy of HBO.)

But after the film’s claim to fame, the house also had another life to live.

In 1979, Bradlee and Quinn purchased the run-down mansion for $220,000, according to Wall Street Journal real estate reporter Candace Taylor. The media royalty couple spent $600,000 restoring the home and the grounds, then used it as their summer place. But with Bradlee’s death in 2014, Quinn said she wanted to move on.

The 1897 home measures 6,000 square feet and sits on about 1.7 acres in the heart of one of East Hampton’s most coveted and exclusive sections near Georgica Beach.