A Little Sunday Morning Floor Plan Porn

SELLER: estate of Randolph and June Speight
LOCATION: 740 Park Avenue, New York, NY
PRICE: $35,000,000
SIZE: 6,700 square feet (approx.), 4 bedrooms 4.5 bathrooms (plus 4 staff bedrooms and 2 staff bathrooms)
DESCRIPTION: Offered for the first time in over forty years, this immense duplex includes a private elevator landing, high ceilings, beautiful hardwood floors, a vast marble Gallery, and a grand staircase. The main level features a baronial Living Room, a handsome walnut-paneled Library, and a tremendous Dining Room. All boast sunny southern outlooks and wood burning fireplaces. A Powder Room and coast closet are conveniently adjacent. There is a Butler's pantry, large kitchen, breakfast room, two staff rooms and a staff bath on the main level. Upstairs off a long Gallery Hall are four enormous bedrooms with over-sized walk-in closets and huge en suite marble bathrooms. A laundry room, two staff room, a staff bath, and backstairs complete this floor.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Today is Sunday, and like the good Lord above, we take this day to rest. However, before we get to mixing up a pitcher of Bloody Mary's Your Mama thought the children might like a little floor plan porn to drool over.

It would seem there is a changing of the guard over at the super swank 740 Park Avenue. First wedding dress designer Vera Wang moved into her parent's gigantic duplex that spread across that 10th and 11th floors. Next came billionaire industrialist Ira Rennart who generously dumped $32,000,000 on an a-line duplex apartment for his lucky lucky daughter Tamara Winn and her even luckier huzband David.

Just a few weeks ago Chinese born investor Peter Huang put his colossal co-op on the market with a blistering asking price of $38,000,000 and now, as first reported by Josh Barbanel at the New York Times, the estate of long time resident and former co-op board president Randolph Speight and his wifey June has hit the market with an only slightly less dramatic asking price of $35,000,000.

The Speight apartment happens to be adjacent to the Huang apartment which means that, pending board approval, natch, a billionaire with boo-coo bucks to burn on renovations could purchase both unit and create on of the largest and most lavish co-operative apartments in all of Noo York City.

Even though that is unlikely and would prolly be nearly impossible to get approved by the notoriously prickly and persnickety board, it would not be the first time two units at 740 Park have been combined. Former Time Warner head honcho Steven Ross and his third wifey Courtney Sale Ross merged two units on the 12th and 1th floors to create one leviathan 32-room spread. Miz Sale Ross inherited the dee-luxe doo-plex when Mister Ross died and reportedly let's it sit empty most of the time as she spends most of her time in East Hampton, NY.

Anyhoo, according to 740 Park eagle eye Michael Gross, Mister and Missus Speight (he a banker type who married into June's oil money family) owned their fourth and fifth floor duplex since 1965. Current listing information does not include any dee-lishus photos of the interiors, but the incredibly well resolved floor plan is pure candy with a ballroom sized living room, a banquet hall sized dining room, a gloriously curving staircase and four principal bedrooms each with a mammoth marble bathroom.

Staff accommodations are spread across the rear of the unit with 2 bedrooms and a bath on the 4th floor and 2 more bedrooms, a bathroom and a large laundry room on the fifth. Your Mama thinks it would be a cruel and inhuman punishment to even suggest that a dignified person live in one of those itty bitty bedrooms, so we can only hope that the room shave either been combined or are used as household offices and storage space. As far as Your Mama is concerned, anyone with thirty some million clams to spend on a New York City apartment should have the decency to spend another few million for a proper and nearby apartment to house the full time staff people.

Now then, have fun trying to imagine where you'd put your brown leather Broyhill sectional sofa and your grandmother's scratched up antique buffet.

Pete Wentz Says Bye Bye to His Bachelor Pad

SELLER: Pete Wentz
LOCATION: Palo Vista Drive, Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $1,799,000
SIZE: 2,062 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Sweeping 180 degree views of The Valley to The Hollywood Sign. Secluded celebrity Hollywood Hills hide-a-way. Secluded Hollywood Hills Late Mid-Century. Open light and bright floor plan with fantastic architectural details, land, pool, spa & outdoor BBQ entertaining area. Amazing theater. Office could be 3rd bedroom space!

UPDATE: Have a peep and the pictures here...

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Much to the chagrin of our pre-teen nieces Boo and Lolo, Your Mama wouldn't know a song by the emo favorites Fall Out Boy anymore than we would expect them to recognize the spine tingling stylings of the bee-yoot-ee-full Bobbie Gentry. However, we're constantly reading about Mister Wentz's coming and goings on the blogs and in the gossip glossies, so what we do know is that he's Ashlee Simpson's boy kissing, man crushing, eye liner luvin' and bar owning baby daddy to be.

Your Mama also knows that the toothy and affable 29 year old musician has put his bachelor pad in the hills above Hollywood on the market with an asking price of $1,799,000.

Prop records and reports all say that Mister Wentz purchased his 2,062 square foot digs on Palo Vista Drive in September of 2006 for $1,625,000. From our bit of research on the interweb, we gather that the square footage on file with the tax man does not include the (approx.) 700 square feet of bonus space that has been converted into a screening room with gigantic brown leather chairs.

Listing information for the property indicates the hillside house includes 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, an open plan living/dining/kitchen space and an office area that can be converted to a third bedroom.

Although Pete's garage is a bit difficult to access–partick if you drive a ridiculously large Range Rover–and the landscaping at the front of the property leaves much to be desired, Your Mama rather likes this tucked away location that's just a hop, skip and a jump from dog friendly and celebrity infested Runyan Canyon. We also like the long walls of windows and multiple balconies for staring out over the tree tops to the glittering lights of the San Fernando Valley.

However, we don't unfortunately feel as friendly towards the day-core. The living room rug is too small, the dining room table is too big, the kitchen is ordinary to the point of bo-ring, the beige carpet in the bedroom is inexcusably banal, and Your Mama is totally traumatized by that bloodcurdling mirror propped up on the counter in the master bathroom. Obviously it is a decoratin' drama to deal with a bathroom window the spans the entire wall behind the sinks, but surely one of Petey's nice gay decorator friends could have come up with a better solution than this. Because, hunnies, that is not a solution.

Your Mama will not even dignify the stools in the kitchen with and adjective.

The wonderfully private back yard has been did up and done over for entertaining with a pill shaped pool and hexagonal hot tub. Your Mama can imagine this would indeed be a lovely place to play host and hostess if your friends are all in excellent shape with healthy hearts. Because let's be honest, it's a long damn distance from the top floor kitchen to the barbecue area which sits a level or two lower than the pool deck which is already two full flights of stairs down from the main living spaces.

Your Mama can not confirm because we have zee-ro inside information on Mister Wentz's current real estate whereabouts, but we presume he has moved in to the 4 bedroom and 4 bathroom house on Oak Pass Road (scroll down a bit) that Missus Wentz bought back when she was still Miss Simpson.

Bev Hills Real Estate Agent Arrested for Stealing

Gossip juggernaut TMZ is reporting that young and cocky Beverly Hills real estate agent Josh Flagg was arrested for allegedly stealing paintings from high end homes he listed for sale. Not just any paintings children, but Chagalls and Picassos.

Oh dear.

Twenty five year old Mister Flagg, who will be featured on the Bravo's upcoming season of Million Dollar Listing, has reportedly been released on $100,000 bail. Your Mama imagines, but can not confirm, that the bearded property pimp may have received bail money from his well to do grandmother, the woman responsible for bringing polyester to America.

Your Mama touched base with a number of big name and well connected agents in Los Angeles including Cutie Patootie in Beverly Hills and, interestingly, none of them had anything nice to say about young Mister Flagg. Best case scenario as far as we can tell is that the salacious charges are tossed out in which case speculation is likely to kill his career anyway or worst case, he winds up playing canasta and hide the pickle in some white collar prison with indicted real estate agents Joe Babajian and Kyle Grasso.