Sands Point home with slide for fire escape on market for $8 million
A spiraling silver slide starts at the playroom door and coils its way to the grass three stories below. Added in a 1970s redesign by homeowners Richard and Lynne Maidman, along with architect Richard Meier, the slide served as a second means of egress.
The waterfront Sands Point estate property on Astor Lane, now on the market for $7.99 million, has been in the family for over 50 years, said their grandson Harry Maidman.
"The slide coming from the third floor, all the way down the side of the house, was so much fun as a kid," said Harry, 28, who works for the family's real estate firm, Townhouse Management Company. "I grew up going to the house and have distinct memories of sliding down that slide and waving at my grandfather in the living room."
This three-story slide was built as a fire escape in the 1970s. Credit: Newsday/Arielle Dollinger
Harry's grandmother, who has since remarried and now goes by Lynne Maidman Manning, was inspired to install the slide as a fire exit when she saw the technique at a school in New Mexico.
"You need two means of egress when you have a structure like that, from the third floor, so there had to be a way to get down," Manning said. "We were talking about fire escapes, and we didn't want to put a fire escape on the house."
She recalled the children in her family sitting on wax paper as they slid down to the grass.
"They really whipped down," she said.
The Astor Lane home was originally built in 1913 and renovated by the Maidman family in the 1970s. Credit: Newsday/Kendall Rodriguez
Built in 1913, according to property records, and renovated by the Maidmans in the 1970s, the main house looks like something out of modern-day Malibu. The 3-acre parcel includes the main house, a two-family staff house, a two-story guest house on the beach, a pool cabana and a seven-car garage. A tennis court on the property is regulation size, Harry added.
Co-listed by Rachel King and Chase Landow, of the brokerage firm Serhant, the home is warmed by natural gas and forced air and cooled by central air conditioning. Annual taxes on the property, which falls within the Port Washington Union Free School District, total $106,429.
The main house on the property measures roughly 5,000 square feet. Credit: Newsday/Kendall Rodriguez
The six-bedroom main house, which Harry estimated measures close to 5,000 square feet, offers five bathrooms and two half-bathrooms.
Harry and his family live in Manhattan and have used the residence as a weekend and summer house, he said — "the perfect escape" 45 minutes from Broadway. The family also made use of the property during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
"It’s truly an amazing house in all seasons," Harry said. He recalled sledding down the property’s hill in the wintertime. "It’s really just an all-around fantastic house, and it’s uniquely positioned so close to the city."
The kitchen. Credit: Newsday/Kendall Rodriguez
Arielle Dollinger joined Newsday as a staff reporter in 2022. Previously, she covered local and national news as a freelancer for The New York Times, Newsday and other outlets.
