A Pritzker Prize-winning architect’s first home renovation that once asked $18M will head to auction

A Sands Point, LI home successful Great Gatsby territory that once asked $18 million — and comes pinch a backstage formation and a elephantine descent — is slated for auction pinch a minimum reserve bid of $5.5 million. 

The six-bedroom, 4,623-square-foot dispersed astatine 27 Astor Lane boasts 200 feet connected nan formation and a elephantine stainless alloy corkscrew descent that doubles arsenic a occurrence flight — from nan 3rd level down to nan ground — each connected nan North Shore’s ritzy Gold Coast.

Sands Point was nan inspiration for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s fictional East Egg successful “The Great Gatsby.”

Real property scion Richard Maidman bought nan estate from nan archdiocese of Brooklyn successful 1971. Built successful 1913, nan spot was erstwhile a alternatively austere retreat for nuns. Maidman commissioned Pritzker Prize-winning designer Richard Meier, who designed nan Getty Museum successful Los Angeles, to reimagine and modernized nan dwelling. It was Meier’s first location renewal project.

Meier, 90, retired from his patient successful 2021, three years aft 5 women came guardant pinch intersexual abuse allegations against him, including 4 of his erstwhile employees. (In a connection astatine that time, Meier said he was “deeply troubled and embarrassed” by nan women’s accounts. “While our recollections whitethorn differ, I sincerely apologize to anyone who was offended by my behavior.”)

Maidman died successful 2017. The property is now held by a Maidman family trust. The auction, to beryllium held Nov. 14, is tally by Misha Haghani’s Paramount Realty USA pinch Serhant brokers Rachel King and Chase Landow. 

Known arsenic nan Maidman House, nan wooded compound sits connected 3 acres overlooking Hempstead Harbor. 

“My begetter grew up there, but we came connected weekends, and I loved sliding down nan descent and waving to my grandfather arsenic he publication nan newspaper,” said Harry Maidman, his grandson. “We are trading because we aren’t location enough. Our family is now dispersed retired crossed nan country.”

Most estates successful nan area are much accepted — but Meier made this 1 modern, by gutting nan location and transforming it pinch curved extremity pieces and a achromatic exterior. Inside, nan walls were each different colors — though they are now muted successful tone, arsenic well.

“My grandparents didn’t want to tear down nan house, truthful Richard Meier encased it and made it much modern. At first, nan location had different colored walls to make it much livable for a family, alternatively of a nuns’ dorm, and he blew retired floors to create a triple-height eating room and a double-height surviving room. He turned a nuns’ retreat into a modern gem,” Maidman said. “It was a pleasance to turn up present connected weekends. It’s a kid’s dream, pinch boating successful summertime and sledding successful winter. It was a very idyllic spot to walk nan weekend.”

Unusual specifications see that spiral metallic descent that joins what was erstwhile — and could still beryllium — a children’s playroom to nan backyard, 3 stories down, and it doubles arsenic a occurrence exit.

Harry Maidman’s grandma Lynne Maidman (before she and his grandfather divorced) came up pinch nan thought to create nan descent arsenic a occurrence flight aft seeing thing akin successful Arizona, wherever she was walking pinch her begetter who had been a colonel successful nan US Army during World War II. 

The compound includes nan main house, which features a surviving area pinch double-height ceilings, and a assemblage pinch a room and reference area. There’s besides an all-white chef’s kitchen. Sliding doors unfastened to a platform pinch harbor views. 

In addition, there’s a two-family unit house, a poolside cabana and a two-story boathouse/guest location connected nan beach, erstwhile nan nuns’ locker room wherever they’d alteration into swimsuits. In addition, there’s a historical icehouse, a excavation and a carriage location that has been transformed into a seven-car garage. 

The property besides features a tennis court, and landscaped gardens that see hundred-year-old maple and oak trees. The spot is adjacent doorway to nan 210-acre Village Club of Sands Point, a members-only play and tennis nine owned by nan colony and portion of nan Guggenheim Estate.