A fashion world legend and longtime Vogue creative director’s Westchester retreat has hit the market for $1.25 million.
André Leon Talley, a media titan with a famous penchant for capes and kaftans, called this White Plains, New York, property home for the last 18 years of his life, the New York Times first reported.
The North Carolina-bred stylist, who wasn’t a huge fan of city living, considered the colonial-style estate to be his “sanctuary,” he told the publication in 2018.
He passed away last year, aged 73, following complications from COVID-19.
A limited liability company made by fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg is selling the 3,600-square-foot property, which is listed with Bonnie Stein of Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty.
“The house was, for André, the perfect place because it was down a private road,” Alexis E. Thomas, an old friend and the trustee of Talley’s estate, told the Times. “His porch became a place where he spent a lot of time, particularly in warmer weather. He conducted interviews from there, and he would Zoom from there. I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent with him on that porch.”
During his almost two decades there, Talley was rarely in the sprawling kitchen (he didn’t cook, Thomas explained), was often in the study, used one of the four bedrooms as a linen closet and never hosted anyone but Thomas in another bedroom.
Talley’s close friend George Malkemus, an executive for Manolo Blahnik who passed away in 2021, and his husband, Anthony Yurgaitis, bought the 169-year-old house for Talley at a cost of $1.02 million in 2004, as the “America’s Next Top Model” judge was reportedly in a pinch regarding a mold issue in his current home and credit issues, among other problems. (Separately, Talley said he moved there because his landlord upped his rent.)
The arrangement took a turn in 2020, when his benevolent landlords wanted to sell, a disagreement ensued, and both parties sued each other.
The legal situation ended in a “confidential settlement agreement” in 2022, according to the Times.
After his death, Talley’s possessions were auctioned off to the tune of $3.5 million, but the home still features a little bit of his essence in the $10,000 worth of leopard-print carpeting paving the stairwell and portions of the second floor.
As well, there are 2.5 baths, a windowed breakfast nook, oak hardwood floors throughout, a lovingly landscaped backyard, a circular driveway and multiple fireplaces.