NY Observer > Brooke Astor

No Name-Dropping in $46 M. Brooke Astor Apartment Listing, But Floorplan's Gargantuan!

Max Abelson — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:20:23 -0400

The massive listing for the late Brooke Astor's duplex at 778 Park Avenue is finally online, and it's the kind of thing that real estate obsessives will salivate over for years. Leighton Candler, the broker who beat out four other super-powerful brokerages--read what Ms. Astor's daughter-in-law had to say about her here--put up four flowery interior shots, but the real keeper is the floorplan. read more »

Astor Heir Picks Georgia-Bred Broker to Sell Brooke's 778 Park Duplex

Max Abelson — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:24:39 -0400

Brooke Astor’s duplex at 778 Park Avenue, a perfectly trimmed, scarlet-lacquered, canonical Upper East Side abode, officially has a broker, eight months after Astor’s death at age 105.

Her 83-year-old son Anthony D. read more »

Astor Son Auditions Brokers for Brooke's 778 Park Pad

Max Abelson — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:35:51 -0400

The library alone at Brooke Astor’s 778 Park Avenue duplex, with floor-to-ceiling bookcases that got no less than 10 coats of scarlet lacquer, launched a thousand high-heeled Upper East Side adjectives. The philanthropist’s apartment was, until late July 2006, one of those co-ops that had long been fawned over as a perfect American home. read more »

Brooke Astor's Only Son Faces Criminal Charges

David Foxley — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:28:06 -0500

Anthony D. Marshall, Brooke Astor’s only son, has been indicted on criminal charges that relate to his handling of his late mother’s finances and will, which was curiously amended in 2002. One of the late Manhattan doyenne’s former lawyers, Francis X. Morrissey Jr., has also been fingered in the case. According to the Times, the exact details of the case are not yet fully known, but a Manhattan grand jury has been listening to witness testimonies for a little over two months.

But the Manhattan District Attorney's office just sent out a press release (click here, or on "Read More" below to read it) with a few more details in it. Allegedly, Mr. Marshall "took advantage of Mrs. Astor's diminished mental capacity in a scheme to defraud her out of millions of dollars." Additionally, the D.A.'s release argues that Ms. Astor's only son convinced his mother to sell real estate by telling her that she was going broke.

Mr. Marshall reportedly left calls from reporters unanswered. Mr. Morrissey, on the other hand, "will plead not guilty at his arraignment" later this week, according to his lawyer. read more »

Goodbye Mrs. Astor

Frances Kiernan — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 17:49:26 -0400
On Aug. 13, the city lost its most gracious dowager: unfailingly generous, tirelessly sociable, enduringly chic. read more »