James Gagliardi
In New Canaan, Connecticut, lies an expansive estate with a Cold War past — and a story as mysterious as the woman who once owned it.
The late, and eccentric, heiress Huguette Clark, the reclusive daughter of the copper tycoon William A. Clark, purchased a large property there in 1951, intending it to serve as a sanctuary for her family and friends in the event of a Soviet attack on New York City.
Yet, despite expanding the grounds, Clark never once furnished the residence or even lived there, according to the 2013 biography “Empty Mansions.” Now, after a major renovation by its current owners, the fashion designer Reed Krakoff and his interior designer wife Delphine, the estate is listed for $25.5 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Clark, who spent the last 20 years of her life in a Manhattan hospital — refusing to leave after being admitted for an illness — passed away in 2011 at the age of 104.
The main residence occupies some 14,300 square feet and holds nine bedrooms with multiple fireplaces. It also comes with a two-bedroom caretaker’s cottage and another guest house turned into a gym.
Delphine Krakoff recalled how the couple stumbled upon the sprawling property after reading about Clark in “Empty Mansions.”
“We Googled the house out of sheer curiosity to see what it looked like,” she told the Journal.
That curiosity turned into a purchase, as the Krakoffs — who were then living in Manhattan and owned the Hamptons estate where Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis spent her childhood summers — couldn’t resist the allure of the Connecticut retreat.
“We fell under its spell,” Delphine said, adding that her Parisian upbringing made her feel a connection to Clark, who had also spent part of her childhood in France. “We felt a lot of connection to her story.”
In 2014, the Krakoffs acquired the estate for $14.3 million. Though the property had been left uninhabited since Clark’s long-before purchase, it was remarkably well-maintained, thanks in part to the dedication of a caretaker.
“The floors were polished to within an inch of their life,” Delphine said.
Still, the couple saw the need for modern updates.
“When [Clark] owned it, she didn’t spend a single night there in 60 years,” Rob Johnson of Brown Harris Stevens, who is co-listing the property with Mary Higgins, told The Post.
“She had other properties like that, too,” he added. “It was basically like a time capsule when the Krakoffs bought it.”
More than $10 million later, the estate boasts a mix of historical charm and contemporary luxury. The Krakoffs updated systems, appliances and reconfigured the floor plan, adding features like a playroom-turned-hangout space and a theater with vintage seats sourced from eBay.
Outside, they created a 1.25-mile jogging trail and installed a chic gray tennis court, and a 60-foot pool edged with antique granite inspired by Central Park’s ponds.
“We became a little bit obsessed,” Delphine said, explaining how they worked to ensure that every addition felt authentic to the estate’s original character.
But with their children grown, the Krakoffs are ready to move on.
“It’s just a really large house for the two of us,” Delphine said, revealing that they’ve already started searching for another property in Connecticut and are in the midst of renovating a Fifth Avenue apartment in Manhattan. As for the New Canaan estate, its sheer size sets it apart in the neighborhood.
But Johnson told The Post how “unusual” it was to spend their millions renovating the house just to keep its original charm.
“Instead of making it transitional and modern with dramatic changes to the house, they spent a fair amount on the renovations to basically bring it back to the original,” Johnson said. “A lot of the work was done behind the walls. So it feels like a very intact version of what was originally built.”
“Most people are modernizing all of the houses. These owners stuck to the original template. You could feel it in the house.”
Johnson added the Krakoffs had cleared trees and brought in a landscape designer to bring the home to life.
“The largest lot sizes in the area are typically around 4 acres,”Higgins told The Journal.
The estate’s 52 acres have already been approved for subdivision into 10 lots. Each lot could potentially support a $10 million home, according to Higgins. Should the property sell in full, it could rank among the most expensive sales in the area.
“A 79-acre farm in New Canaan sold for $30 million in 2008,” Johnson added. Yet despite the lofty price tag, Johnson acknowledged that the market for high-end properties is slow — not due to a lack of buyers, but rather a shortage of quality inventory.
“It’s not because there isn’t money out there looking for it,” he explained.
Johnson told The Post how the Krakoffs have a penchant for collecting houses with “interesting provenances,” such as this.
“I think the buyer for this house will perhaps be from a similar background,” he said