Helen Gurley Brown with her husband, David Brown in 2001.
Like every celebrity whose star status was born, raised and blazed in New York City, Helen Gurley Brown’s legacy is, in part, defined by the Upper West Side apartment she left behind. And, oh, what a thing of majestic beauty is PH22 at the Beresford!
The Cosmopolitan editor, who died in 2012, famously and fabulously lived at the Beresford at 211 Central Park West in Penthouse 22D, which she called her dream apartment — one she wouldn’t trade for any other. Apparently, Brown’s attachment to the place extended to the co-executor of her will.
Since her death at age 90, there’s been a tremendous sense of anticipation about when Brown’s famous quadruplex would hit the market. With no children and no heirs, Brown’s estate — and legacy — is controlled by the Hearst Corporation, publishers of Cosmopolitan. The delay did not please the Beresford co-op board too much, and in August, the “strange” story of the delayed entry of Brown’s apartment to the NYC real estate market was described in detail by The New York Times.
But, as of this November day in 2015, what some brokers said might be a $50 million apartment listing has finally found its market price: $20 million. The four-floor unit in the South/East tower with 360-degree views of Central Park and the Hudson River has been listed for by Gabriele Devlin of Sotheby’s.
And lest we think that real estate hyperbole is all just a bunch of broker babble, in the case of this epitome of high-end, old-school, unique NYC residence, there’s just no reason to second guess its description as “the crown jewel of the Manhattan real estate market,’’ according to architectural critic Paul Goldberger.
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