Luxury and the arts From houses to cars and from Hockney to van Dyck, a profile of the best and the worst
A home worthy of any ‘Downton’ devotee is marketed for £6,500,000 less than it was previously promoted for in 2008
With Downton Abbey back on our screens, Brits are waxing lyrical about life in country houses whilst our American cousins are already bemoaning that they won’t get to see the latest series until January. Any fan with deep enough pockets could live out their fantasy if they were to purchase Thornhill Park at Stalbridge in Dorset. (more…)
John Stoddart features at forthcoming STRARTA Art Fair at the Saatchi Gallery
A new art fair is launching at Chelsea’s Saatchi Gallery from the 10th to the 13th October. Amongst those whose works will be showcased is a favourite of The Steeple Times, photographer John Stoddart. (more…)
62,000 square foot apartment at New York’s The River House comes to the market for £80.5 million
Apartments don’t normally come with indoor tennis courts but if the proposed conversion of the former River Club within New York’s River House co-operative goes ahead, what will surely be one of the world’s most ludicrous properties will indeed be created. (more…)
Bernie Madoff’s boat on the market at a reduced price
Previously marketed at £2.7 million, Bernie Madoff’s Arno Leopard yacht, Bull, is again on the market. Priced this time at £1.6 million, the 27-metre boat is still in the hands of the joint liquidators of Madoff Securities and cost £5.1 million when built in 2007. (more…)
MB&F and REUGE’s truly unique MusicMachine
A collaboration between radical watchmakers Maximilian Büsser & Friends (MB&F) and music box manufacturers REUGE has resulted in the creation of a spectacular “MusicMachine” that looks like a cross between a submarine and something out of Star Trek. (more…)
Stonebrook Court Manor: The sale of a Californian mansion where it’s more about patience than price
Stonebrook Court Manor in California’s Los Altos Hills has been on and off the market since January 2008. Its owner, a “television executive turned Internet investor” and investment banker named Kelly Porter, though said to be “in no hurry to sell”, has reduced his asking price from £28.1 million ($45 million) to £16.8 million ($27 million) through Arthur Sharif & Associates. (more…)
A truly unique American Austin station wagon heads to auction
The American Austin Car Company was a short-lived car manufacturing corporation that operated from 1930 to 1937. A one-off station wagon version is due for auction at the RM Auctions Hershey sale on 10th to 11th October. (more…)
1928 Rolls Royce Phantom 1 shooting brake comes to the market
Here at The Steeple Times we love unusual shooting brakes and in a 1928 Rolls-Royce Phantom 1, we’ve discovered an especially fantastic one. (more…)
Scottish estate once marketed at £4.5 million now available for just £1.6 million
The Melville State Bed is considered “the most spectacular single exhibit in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s British Galleries”. Hung with 85 metres of velvet, 114.5 metres of damask and 62 metres of supporting linen and buckram, the “theatrical” crimson bed was created in 1700 to reflect the status of its owner and now the very house it was originally the centerpiece of is once again on the market. (more…)
Sarah Tucker takes her son bear hunting in the Yukon and discovers a lot more
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt: I remember reading that book to my son, Tom, when he was a baby, until I knew the words to the story by rote. He loved the idea of going on an adventure through different terrains and the sounds that the characters made in search of the bear they eventually found in a cave on page nine. (more…)