Sculptor, collector, art patron, museum founder, famous guardian, and sometimes lesbian commissioned an art studio from architects Delano & Aldrich in a sort of Carnegie Library Italian Renaissance inspired Neoclassicism. With more than 7000 square feet on almost 6 acres, the property was converted to a house for Whitney's granddaughter in 1982, preserving the core studio room, a space of 2400 square feet and 20' high ceilings as well as most of the original features of the building. (The significant change was in the re-use of the studio room as a large living room/dining room/all purpose space.
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney filled the house with contemporary art and the formal gardens with contemporary sculpture, later drawing on both when she formed the Whitney Museum in 1930.
It's anything but a house for everyone, and the length of time on the market hints at its specificity and peculiarities more than its price, I think. I love the enormous studio room, and once grand and simple, with its acres of sofas and room for many more. And the murals painted by Whitney, even the loud wallpaper that seems somehow to fit like here but would probably hate anywhere else. The rooms are a bit of a mash-up, but it was meant as a seasonal art studio retreat with places to sleep rather than a proper house.
[[Listing at R1.]]