Broadway star Celeste Holm’s former Manhattan home was put up for sale for $14 million by her estranged son after her death.
- The star lived in the luxurious apartment for more than 50 years.
- The apartment has spectacular views of the treetops of Central Park.
- Holm had been embroiled in a legal battle over her inheritance before she died, wiping out her savings.
- In 2004, the actress married a singer and waiter almost 46 years younger than her.
Actress Celeste Holm lived in the apartment for more than half a century.
The high-ceilinged Manhattan apartment owned by the late Broadway star Celeste Holm has been listed for $13.95 million by the youngest of her two estranged children.
With spectacular views of the city, the duplex at 88 Central Park is where the star lived for more than half a century and died in July, aged 95.
Dan Dunning, whose father was Holm’s third husband, told the New York Times: ‘She loved it because of the view of the park and the way she felt involved with the seasons, just by looking through the windows.
“Central Park in the spring was the time I enjoyed the most.”
Times writer Robin Finn, who was granted exclusive access to the three-bedroom property, described her, like Holm, as “possessing charisma, plus durable bone structure.”
On the lower floor, it reveals that there is a dining room, a pantry and a kitchen where the late actress “loved to cook batches of spaghetti and clam sauce.”
And a spacious living room is filled with windows overlooking the treetop park.
Upstairs are three large bedrooms, with ample wardrobe space, and the master suite offers full views to the north and east.
Holm’s son says she moved into her corner maisonette in Brentmore, No 6N, in 1953 and bought it in 1958 after the building was converted to a co-op.
However, since her marriage in 2004 to Frank Basile, a singer and waiter almost 46 years her junior, she had been embroiled in a legal battle with her family over her investments and inheritance.
The court fight wiped out much of her savings and left her dependent on Social Security. The actress and her children were no longer on speaking terms and she was sued for back maintenance and legal fees on her Manhattan apartment.
A settlement was reached last year that entitled Basile to a one-third share of the profits from his estate and he was forced to vacate the property at 88 Central Park just five weeks after his death.
Central Park in spring was the time the star enjoyed the most
Holm bought the apartment outright in 1958.
According to her children, Holm had really liked the apartment.
The star’s private bathroom
The duplex had two large luxury bathrooms.
Dunning, a real estate manager in Putnam County, Holm’s son from her first marriage to Ted Nelson, an Internet pioneer, who lives in California, added: “One of his wishes as he got older was to not have to give up never to the apartment. .’
Holm had been hospitalized for dehydration after a fire in actor Robert De Niro’s apartment in the same Manhattan building.
She had asked her husband to take her home and spent her final days with him and other family members and close friends by her side.
The dining room of the duplex nicknamed by one of his children as ‘red nail’
Holm’s luxury bedroom
The apartment sold for just under $14.
Holm ended her life in a fierce legal battle with her estranged children over her estate.
The spacious kitchen of the apartment.
In a career that spanned more than half a century, Holm played everyone from Ado Annie (the girl who just can’t say no in Oklahoma!) to a worldly theatrical agent in the 1991 comedy I Hate Hamlet and guest star in TV shows. like Fantasy Island and Love Boat II to Bette Davis’s best friend in All About Eve.
She won the 1947 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Gentlemen’s Agreement and received Oscar nominations for Come to the Stable (1949) and All About Eve (1950).
Holm was also known for her tireless charitable work (at one point she served on nine boards of directors) and was an emeritus member of the board of directors of the National Mental Health Association.
The listing agent, Austin Schuster of Sotheby’s International Realty, described their apartment as “a fabulous canvas ready to be transformed again for a new owner.”
Celeste Holm in 1997
The 12-story building, at the corner of 69th Street and Central Park West, designed by Schwartz and Gross and built in 1910, has attracted numerous celebrities.
Producer Lorne Michaels lives there, Sting was a former resident, and Robert De Niro bought a $20.9 million duplex two stories below Holm’s in 2006.
Holm was married five times and is survived by two children and three grandchildren.