I marvel at how much I've never seen (noticed?) in New York. It's probable that I had never walked on East 70th Street before.
New York real estate is inseparable from New York money, which I don't have. And it's not like I want to live there, I like my little hovel. I've lived in a mansion, although not in Manhattan—in Bangor, Maine.
It was the Wing estate, built by money from Maine lumber, South American mining, & Texas rice, in the days when Bangor was a major lumber port. It was the last grand home on State Street in the Queen City that had remained a private home.
I think I was the only non-Wing to ever live in that house. The family's last two spinster daughters had died 30 or 40 years earlier & the house hadn't been touched since. It had 2 kitchens, a music room paneled with wood that took 10 years to accumulate enough of, an attic full of old books, some of which I still have (I was told I could have 'em).... A doctor friend (I had taken care of his elderly mother) bought it but needed someone to stay there to deter break-ins until he & his partners started converting it into medical offices. This was probably 1976.
New York real estate is inseparable from New York money, which I don't have. And it's not like I want to live there, I like my little hovel. I've lived in a mansion, although not in Manhattan—in Bangor, Maine.
It was the Wing estate, built by money from Maine lumber, South American mining, & Texas rice, in the days when Bangor was a major lumber port. It was the last grand home on State Street in the Queen City that had remained a private home.
I think I was the only non-Wing to ever live in that house. The family's last two spinster daughters had died 30 or 40 years earlier & the house hadn't been touched since. It had 2 kitchens, a music room paneled with wood that took 10 years to accumulate enough of, an attic full of old books, some of which I still have (I was told I could have 'em).... A doctor friend (I had taken care of his elderly mother) bought it but needed someone to stay there to deter break-ins until he & his partners started converting it into medical offices. This was probably 1976.