The two-story palace in the sky that William Randolph Hearst, the larger-than-life media mogul who inspired “Citizen Kane,” built for his mistress is on sale.
The $26 million listing marks the co-op unit’s first sale of the 21st century. The Ritz Tower residence, commissioned by the building’s one-time owner, Hearst, for actress Marion Davies, boasts 17th-century cathedral glass windows, monastic doors and triple-terraced views of Manhattan.
Michael Kotler of Douglas Elliman holds the historic listing, located on the 19th and 20th floors of 465 Park Avenue.
Hearst, whose tumultuous personal and professional life inspired Orson Welles’ 1941 film “Citizen Kane,” purchased the Ritz Tower — then an apartment hotel — in the late 1920s. The magnate reportedly built the opulent residence for Davies, which featured its own private elevator.
The decades-long, scandalous relationship between Hearst and Davies led to the lifelong estrangement of Hearst and his wife, Millicent Willson, and largely overshadowed Davies’ impressive film career.
Hearst, whose newspapers were famous for sensational headlines, seemingly possessed an equally dramatic eye for interior design.
“You feel like you’re in the [Met] Cloisters,” Kotler said.
The 11-room home’s white marble entrance gives way to an opulent great hall. The two-story room features a wooden ceiling transported from a Venetian palace and multiple sets of 17th century cathedral glass windows. The ceiling fresco was completely restored by the home’s current owner, Kotler said.
The dining room also features arched stained glass windows, a 12-foot Oriental screen and a wood fireplace, according to the listing. Even the home’s doors are historic, Kotler said, hearkening from a 16th-century monastery.
The museum-like quality of the home extends to many of the furnishings included in the $26 million listing price, including a 100-year-old Agra carpet, Recency-era tables and a 10-foot Vanderbilt clock.
A balcony with Central Park views, accessed from the walnut-paneled library, wraps around the north, south and west sides of the co-op.
Residents at 465 Park Avenue enjoy hotel-style services, including housekeeping and room service.
Hearst eventually lived with Davies in the Ritz Tower home in the 1930s, according to “Mansions in the Clouds: The Skyscraper Palazzi of Emery Roth,” by Steven Ruttenbaum. But the pair were evicted in 1938 when Hearst, deep in debt amid the Great Depression, defaulted on his mortgage payments, turned over the building to the bank and absconded to California with Davies.