Property Of The Week: Socialite Brooke Astor’s High Society Party Home Hits The Market

A decadent 28-acre estate in Massachusetts once owned by socialite Brooke Astor has come to market with an asking price of $4.6 million.

Set amid the rolling hills of Tyringham Valley, within the Berkshires, an area long sought out by eminent writers and artists; Cobble House is a statement residence built in 1909 by Harrie T. Lindeberg, a leading architect of the American Country House movement.

Spanning nearly 6,000 square feet, the seven-bedroom country home -with a unique rolled edge roof - was recently restored and modernised in a $3 million-plus overhaul by the seller, Nick Felix, a local businessman who grew up on the property.

The painstaking restoration has retained as much of the original detailing as possible, including re-milling of the original oak baseboards, replastering the walls, formulating perfectly matched stucco for the exterior, re-carving the hand-chiselled stone columns that support a distinctive portico and refurbishing the original detailing, such as extensive wood panelling, silverleaf mantles (a Brooke Astor addition) and leaded-glass windows.

The home sits on a hill with stunning views of the Tyringham Cobble, a prehistoric rock formation that sits amid acres of preserved land that was once a Shaker settlement, according to the listing with John Burns of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty. “The land is gorgeous,” Burns said. “It’s like the land before time.”

Astor, a socialite and philanthropist, purchased the property in the 1940s with her second husband, Charles “Buddie” Marshall. The couple spent many weekends and holidays in the valley, and Astor only sold the home following Marshall’s death in 1952, after 20 years of marriage.

Feature your property by contacting Alan Cox, Abode2, at alan@abode2.com today.