Joan Rivers’ Lavishly Haunted Abode

Known for her caustic comedy and quick wit, actress and comedienne Joan Rivers, bought Upper East Side penthouse in 1988, and lived there for 28 years before her death in 2014, at the age of 81.Reportedly purchased in 2014, after her death, by a Middle Eastern buyer, Joan Rivers’ palatial New York penthouse is back on the market at a reduced price of $34.5 million.

Other than Joan’s in-your-face, politically incorrect stand-up performances and off-the-cuff humour that kept her fans laughing and sometimes made national headlines, she was also an author of 12 books, a joke-and-comedy script writer, film director and actress of 27 films, jewellery designer and with a host of other business pursuits. Joan’s life was as fast as her one-liners, spanning a prolific 55-year career.

Joan’s sense of style was as legendary as her sense of humour. Originally, the Upper East Side apartment had been designed for socialites John and Alice Troth Drexel in 1903, by the Gilded Age architect-to-the-very-rich Horace Trumbauer, now considered one of his ‘great houses’ in New York.

After changing hands a few times, in the 1930s it became an exclusive apartment house with only nine units. A year after her husband Edgar Rosenberg’s death in 1987, Joan sold her home in Los Angeles, returned to her home state and purchased the New York penthouse. She threw herself into decorating it lavishly, while keeping the decor style sympathetic to the French-themed architecture, famously adding: "It's what Marie Antoinette would have done, if she had money." She further described the apartment as “Louis XIV meets Fred and Ginger.” She resided there for 28 years and often entertained a bevy of celebrities, including Princess Diana.

A private elevator entry hall leads to a dramatic two-story gallery, adjoining a light-flooded living room, each with a wood-burning fireplace. The reception rooms feature soaring 23’ ceilings and elegant parquet-de-Versailles flooring. A spacious corner-panelled library and a formal dining room feature ornate 18th-century French panels, both with original wood-burning fireplaces and overlooking a south-facing terrace. The four-bedroom triplex has large entertaining spaces with a ballroom, music room and antique columns.

As much as Joan loved her fashionable home and the Central Park views, it had a quirk which she didn’t like: a ghost in the form of what was believed to be former owner, Mrs. Spencer. This probably wouldn’t have mattered had Mrs. Spencer stayed quiet, but on one occasion Joan said, she bit the heads off the cherubs on a chandelier. With 23-foot ceilings in the formal rooms, who else could have done it? Finally, Joan engaged a voodoo priestess from Louisiana to eradicate the spirit throughout the building. As an extra incentive to keep the ghost happy, Joan found an old painting of Mrs. Spencer in the basement, cleaned it up and hung it in the hallway with a vase of flowers on a table underneath it.

The listing agent is Jenny Lenz of Dolly Lenz Real Estate.

Photo credit: Corcoran Image Source: www.toptenrealestatedeals.com