Grey Gardens, the storied East Hampton home, lists for $19.9M
Grey Gardens in East Hampton has been listed for sale for the first time since 1979 for an asking price of $19.995 million. Credit: The Corcoran Group
Grey Gardens, the legendary East Hampton home that once belonged to relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, is on the market for the first time since 1979.
Listed for $19.995 million, the approximately 6,000-square foot house came to prominence in 1975 when featured in a documentary as the rundown home of its eccentric inhabitants, Onassis’ aunt Edith Bouvier Beale (Big Edie) and her cousin, Edith Beale (Little Edie), who lived in a state of squalor. It inspired an Emmy-award winning 2009 HBO movie, starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore, and a Broadway musical.
“It hasn’t been on the market in almost 40 years, but it’s gotten much more critical acclaim since then,” says Michael Schultz of The Corcoran Group, alluding to the movie and play. “That all made it very popular. It’s like American folklore.”
The 1897 home was purchased by the Bouvier Beale’s in the 1920s before falling into disrepair. After Big Edie died in 1977, Little Edie sold the house in 1979 to longtime Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and his wife, Sally Quinn, a journalist, who Schultz says were close friends of John and Jackie Kennedy. Bradlee and Quinn restored the house and spent the month of August at the home most years until Bradlee died in 2014.
“[Quinn] said that recently, it just didn’t feel the same without him and it was just time to let it go,” Schultz said.
The three-story, shingle-style home, built in 1897, features seven bedrooms and 6-1/2 bathrooms. The property, on 1.7 acres, includes a pool and tennis court and is situated 100 yards from the Ocean. All of the architectural details of the home are intact, Schultz says, including Dutch doors, molding, built-in cabinets and marble sinks.
In October 2016, the home was listed as a yearly rental, excluding the month of August, for $175,000.
Another historic East Hampton home with ties to Onassis is on the market for $38.995 million. The childhood home of Onassis, known as Lasata, has been listed since September. The 10-bedroom, 11-1/2 bathroom home sits on 7.15 acres.
