Tag: 2014

  • Pete Cashmore (AKA ‘The Sage of Media’)

    Pete Cashmore (AKA ‘The Sage of Media’)

    Born in Banchory, Aberdeenshire in 1985, Pete Cashmore founded Mashable, a “one-stop-shop” digital media news and blogging site, in his bedroom in 2005 with the aim of “changing the world”. The firm now has over 120 employees, is based in New York and has 9 million followers on Twitter and achieves over 45 million unique views per month. He was once described as “one of the most influential voices of his generation – on and offline” and was also called “more than just a superb head of hair” by Hearst’s Town & Country magazine in 2016.

     

  • A Georgian Gem

    A Georgian Gem

    Grade I listed Georgian mansion in Worcestershire for sale for the first time since the 1720s

     

    Few houses remain in the ownership of the same family for three hundred years, but an example of such, Ombersley Court at Ombersley in Worcestershire, has just been placed on the market for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million).

     

    Designed and built for the 1st Lord Sandys by the master builder Francis Smith of Warwick between 1723 and 1730, Ombersley Court was substantially alerted by the landscape architect John Webb in 1809. Grade I listed and featuring impressive entertaining spaces, the 27,449 square foot house comes with a 13,188 square foot Grade II* listed stable complex and 39 acres of land. A further 11 acres and a three bedroom cottage are available as separate lots.

     

    A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million)
    Richard Michael Oliver Hill, 7th Baron Sandys of Ombersley (1942 – 2013) accompanying the Queen on her inspection of the Yeoman of the Guard
    A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million)
    An image of Ombersley Court before the service extension that provided kitchen and staff accommodation (right) was demolished in 1964

     

    Of Ombersley Court, Matthew Beckett of The Country Seat blog remarks:

     

    “With the death of Lord Sandys in 2013 the house passed to Lady Sandys but following her recent death, concerns were raised and rebutted via letters in Country Life that this wonderful house would be forced (for complicated reasons) to become a care home; a fate which would have despoiled this jewel of a house. Instead, for the first time since it was built in 1724, it has been placed on the market. This is a house created by one of the finest craftsmen of the early-Georgian period, with connections to a wider, distinct Midlands architectural tradition which epitomises all that one would hope to see in a country seat”.

     

    “As an important house which deserves respect, one hopes that the new owner will appreciate this remarkable situation and that perhaps the best approach would simply be to buy the house and contents and perhaps another couple hundred acres to truly secure an Arcadian ideal, one which would be hard to better anywhere in the country”.

     

    The selling agents are Savills.

     

    A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million)A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million)A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million)A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million)A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million)A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million)A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million)A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million)A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million)A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million)A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million)A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million) A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million)A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million)A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million)A Georgian Gem – Ombersley Court, Ombersley, Worcestershire, WR9 0HH, United Kingdom – For sale for first time through Savills for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 million or درهم16.7 million)

  • Michaella McCollum

    Michaella McCollum

    Dopey drugs mule Michaella McCollum was one half of the ‘Peru Two’ jailed in 2013 for attempting to smuggle £1.5 million of cocaine to Spain with her friend Melissa Reid. Hailing from Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, shameless former model McCollum was pictured in a distinctive prison orange coloured outfit in May 2017 clutching a £2,000 Chanel handbag. This fame-seeking bleach blonde wastrel appeared to not have a care in the world and previously claimed: “I’m not a bad person… [But] I could have killed a lot of people”.

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgn1XjuahoE

     

  • Dastardly Diane

    Dastardly Diane

    Diane Abbott MP, a woman unable to grasp numbers, revealed to be perfectly capable of grabbing as much as she can for her very own pocket

     

    Quite capable of whining about supposedly being unfairly targeted by so-called trolls in spite of being in the pay of and thus accountable to the public, Britain’s most hypocritical Member of Parliament, Diane Abbott, has pocketed over £110,000 in licence payers’ money from the BBC since 2003.

     

    Ms Abbott, it was revealed Thursday by the Mail Online, has been paid £700 each and every time she appeared on BBC One’s This Week and in addition has also raked in cash from conferences, corporate events and literary festivals.

     

    As well as getting £2,000 for turning up to a Citywealth Power Women lunch in 2014, this Socialist horror commanded £2,500 for a speech in Jersey and £2,000 for a talk at a BNP Paribas sponsored event later that year. Aside from this, there have been many other additional payments and on this basis, we ask one thing: “How can a self-motivated money grabber like Diane Abbott claim to speak for ordinary people?”

     

    The answer is simple: This numerically challenged woman cannot. Just like we said of Nigel Farage some months ago, Abbott is no longer a woman of the people. She is a woman of the elite.

     

  • Jack Turner – What’s on your mantelpiece?

    Jack Turner – What’s on your mantelpiece?

    A 20-question interview with English born, Los Angeles based actor and musician Jack Turner

     

    The Steeple Times shares “wit and wisdom”. What’s your guiding force?

    Treat people well. Try and learn your blind spots.

     

    “Don’t get even, get medieval” is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What’s yours?

    Be nice, but don’t get shat on.

     

    Kerry Katona was considered unacceptable in 2007. Who or what is unacceptable in 2017?

    Everything seems to be acceptable. People are being absolutely despicable because of messaging they see from those in power. Perhaps the only unacceptable thing is calm and clear discourse.

     

    Tony Blair misses being Prime Minister. What do you miss most in your life?

    My family and Weymouth Beach.

     

    What might you swap all your wealth for?

    Everyone having some.

     

    Donald Trump was once a case of: “If you owe the bank a thousand, they close you down; but if you owe the bank a billion, you own the bank”. What’s your view on the state of the financial system?

    That, and the political system (similar principles), make me most unhappy to be an atheist.

     

    What phrase or word do you most loathe?

    “Reach out”. The word I maybe most love is “tosspot”.

     

    In the UK, some people consider charity to “begin at home”. What’s your view and what causes do you personally support?

    I think there’s a threshold of financial and social safety below which there is no hope to ascend, and that people below that threshold need help. What we have in the UK and US would be considered a ludicrous luxury in many places. I personally just donated a pretty solid sum to Syria and Somalia.

     

    The judge in Law Abiding Citizen states: “I can pretty much do whatever I want” before being blown up whilst answering her mobile phone. What’s your view on the appropriate use of such devices?

    I wish my phone would blow me up. These devices are ruining people’s presence, empathy, and ability to talk. I just read a great summary of the evidence linking socialization and our neurobiology. When you consider socialisation is being replaced by phones, I fear sociopathy will rise massively. Put the fucking phone away, or on silent if you just can’t be without it, you tosspot.

     

    If you could fill a carriage on The Orient Express, who would be your fellow passengers?

    People without phones, who can like each other even if they disagree. I pick my girlfriend and my mate Monte. Anyone else is welcome. That should ignite some fun.

     

    If you were unfortunate enough to end up on death row, what would be your last meal and where would you eat it?

    Curry from Mirch Masala in Tooting, and bitter. Followed by red velvet cake and some Law Estates Cab.

     

    What time is it acceptable to consume the first drink of the day?

    Not so much a case of “Is this acceptable?” as: “Will my body reject this now?”

     

    A Negroni, a martini or a cup of tea?

    I don’t know what a Negroni is. Martinis are frightening. So I’ll go for some tea, please.

     

    Whose parties do you enjoy the most and why?

    Those I curate carefully to avoid tosspots. Because I loathe tosspots.

     

    Who is the most positive person you know?

    My girlfriend. I’m lucky enough that this is a pretty competitive decision, but she takes the cake.

     

    What’s your most guilty pleasure?

    Aforementioned red velvet cake. And guitars.

     

    If a tattoo were to sum you up, what would it be of?

    I don’t like tattoos, which I think sums me up.

     

    If you were a car, what marque would you be?

    Public transport or a bicycle. I now realise both sound dirty.

     

    Cilla Black presented Surprise, Surprise. Tell us the most surprising thing about you.

    To my shame I didn’t know what an incredible singer she was. I thought she was just a host. That surprised me. I’m a terrible singer. Which maybe makes it surprising that I was in a great band and continue to make music. Check out our old stuff if you’re interested – Cable Car on Spotify, iTunes, etc.

     

    What’s currently sitting on your mantelpiece?

    Our place isn’t fancy enough to have a mantlepiece. However, we do have a cupboard, upon which we put meaningful things. My mum potted me an Oscar statue, which we call ‘Oscar’. Probably unoriginal, but, I think it’s very sweet, and I’ll take what I can get.

     

    Jack Turner grew up in Weymouth, Dorset, where he was a dubiously-skilled mackerel fishing tour guide. He studied psychology at Oxford before working for Google in London and San Francisco. He’s now an actor in Hollywood and has starred in Netflix’s ‘The 10 Year Plan’ and Hallmark’s ‘My Summer Prince’.

     

    Follow him on Twitter at @jackoturner and Instagram at @jaxonturner.

     

  • A Marmite Aston

    A Marmite Aston

    One-of-one left-hand drive 1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage convertible in ‘Fury Yellow’ to be sold; it is a prime example of 1980s excess and a car you will either love or loathe

     

    A 1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante Zagato that was the only left-hand drive example produced is to be sold by auction in May. It is a car that you’ll either love or loathe and given it is presented in ‘Fury Yellow’, it certainly reflects the era when “greed was good” in terms of its brashness and noticeability.

     

    Capable of speeds of upto 183 miles per hour, the car offered was upgraded from a standard V585 V8 fuel-injected engine to a V580X Vantage engine by its original owner and also features a five-speed ZF manual gearbox. It has a specially styled black leather interior and a black mohair hood and is described as being “the essence of 1980s machismo”.

     

    A total of thirty-six right hand drive examples of this especially angular convertible were built. Two sold in 2013 and 2014 at Bonhams at their Aston Martin Works Sales at Newport Pagnell in England. Though each achieved just £135,900 ($176,000, €161,000 or درهم646,000), RM Sotheby’s estimate the ‘Fury Yellow’ version they are to sell at a much more ambitious £379,000 to £464,000 ($491,000 to $600,000, €450,000 to €550,000 or درهم1.8 million to درهم2.2 million). They will sell it at their Villa Erba sale on the shores of Lake Como in Italy on Saturday 27th May.

     

    A Marmite Aston – Fury Yellow 1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante Zagato to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s at their Villa Erba sale on Saturday 27th May 2017 – £379,000 to £464,000 ($491,000 to $600,000, €450,000 to €550,000 or درهم1.8 million to درهم2.2 million)A Marmite Aston – Fury Yellow 1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante Zagato to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s at their Villa Erba sale on Saturday 27th May 2017 – £379,000 to £464,000 ($491,000 to $600,000, €450,000 to €550,000 or درهم1.8 million to درهم2.2 million)A Marmite Aston – Fury Yellow 1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante Zagato to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s at their Villa Erba sale on Saturday 27th May 2017 – £379,000 to £464,000 ($491,000 to $600,000, €450,000 to €550,000 or درهم1.8 million to درهم2.2 million)A Marmite Aston – Fury Yellow 1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante Zagato to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s at their Villa Erba sale on Saturday 27th May 2017 – £379,000 to £464,000 ($491,000 to $600,000, €450,000 to €550,000 or درهم1.8 million to درهم2.2 million)A Marmite Aston – Fury Yellow 1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante Zagato to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s at their Villa Erba sale on Saturday 27th May 2017 – £379,000 to £464,000 ($491,000 to $600,000, €450,000 to €550,000 or درهم1.8 million to درهم2.2 million)A Marmite Aston – Fury Yellow 1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante Zagato to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s at their Villa Erba sale on Saturday 27th May 2017 – £379,000 to £464,000 ($491,000 to $600,000, €450,000 to €550,000 or درهم1.8 million to درهم2.2 million)A Marmite Aston – Fury Yellow 1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante Zagato to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s at their Villa Erba sale on Saturday 27th May 2017 – £379,000 to £464,000 ($491,000 to $600,000, €450,000 to €550,000 or درهم1.8 million to درهم2.2 million)A Marmite Aston – Fury Yellow 1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante Zagato to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s at their Villa Erba sale on Saturday 27th May 2017 – £379,000 to £464,000 ($491,000 to $600,000, €450,000 to €550,000 or درهم1.8 million to درهم2.2 million)A Marmite Aston – Fury Yellow 1989 Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante Zagato to be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s at their Villa Erba sale on Saturday 27th May 2017 – £379,000 to £464,000 ($491,000 to $600,000, €450,000 to €550,000 or درهم1.8 million to درهم2.2 million)

  • Advertorial – City Relay

    Advertorial – City Relay

    Matthew Steeples takes a look at the services offered by City Relay, a hassle free short-term rental management company

     

    Established three years ago and based in Earl’s Court, City Relay offer the very best guest and host management services for over two hundred apartments and houses in Central and West London.

     

    Primarily focused on taking away the hassle of managing bookings through marketing services such as Airbnb, City Relay’s 5-star hospitality team deal with check-ins, key holding and guest support. The firm also have their own property maintenance team to ensure properties are kept in immaculate condition between change-overs and can organise housekeeping services and supply fresh hotel quality linens also.

     

    Of the firm’s services to those with apartments and houses to rent, the company’s Mathilde Le Bault comments:

     

    “Brexit has brought a bonus for landlords and has encouraged many to opt for short-term rentals to tourists and business people rather than leaving their properties empty in a declining long-term market. Higher yields follow and with the ease and convenience of dealing with just City Relay’s team, we make it much easier to navigate the Airbnb process”.

     

    “City Relay’s reception desk is located at 62 Kenway Road, London, SW5 0RD and the many international, mostly European clients we deal with find that having someone they can actually speak to and meet in person most useful”.

     

    For further details about City Relay’s services, click here. Alternatively, telephone: +44 (0) 20 7993 5693.

     

    Advertorial – City Relay – Matthew Steeples takes a look at the services offered by City Relay, a hassle free short-term rental management company in London. Advertorial – City Relay – Matthew Steeples takes a look at the services offered by City Relay, a hassle free short-term rental management company in London.

  • Wally of the Week – Sir Michael Caine

    Wally of the Week – Sir Michael Caine

    Actor Michael Caine claims to be “a socialist” in spite of having been involved in a tax avoidance scheme and previously leaving Britain to avoid the top rate of tax in the 1970s

     

    Sir Michael Caine, CBE is a man who flip-flops like no other and whose political views are best described as “chaotic”. Though a man known for fleeing Britain for America to avoid high taxes in the 1970s and a man named as an investor in a tax avoidance scheme named Liberty in 2014, the pro-Brexit actor has this week called himself a “socialist” and went as far to say: “I wouldn’t live in a country that didn’t pay income tax”.

     

    In an interview with the Catholic newspaper The Universe, Sir Michael remarked:

     

    “I’m a socialist, basically. I want as much money as possible for poor people, to help whoever’s in trouble. I wouldn’t live in a country that didn’t pay income tax”.

     

    “What you have to do is keep emotion out of it. You can’t say: ‘We hate these rich people, we’re going to tax them to smithereens’. You’ve got to have them stay in your country and pay the tax”.

     

    A public supporter of Margaret Thatcher, David Cameron and even Tony Blair, Sir Michael was forced to pay a significant sum to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs after being exposed as part of the Liberty scheme and also made a fool of himself in another regard. The actor also told The Universe:

     

    “In order to do something good, I don’t just do work which is no good. I don’t do commercials’.

     

    In 2013, he was paid a six-figure sum to film a commercial for Sky television. How conveniently the man forgets.

     

  • Living Large

    New Jersey mansion, complete with 58 rooms, for sale for equivalent sum to what it cost to build in 1909; the £37 million house’s original owner was a man whose extravagance knew absolutely no bounds

     

    George Crocker (1856 – 1909) makes F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jay Gatsby seem like an amateur. Born in Sacramento and the son of a railway magnate worth some $30 million on his death (the equivalent of £634 million or $812 million today), Crocker was willed a significant $6 million (the equivalent of £127 million or $163 million today) on the condition that “after the space of five years continuously he shall abstain from the use of spirituous, vinous, and malt liquors to the extent that he shall not during this period have been intoxicated”.

     

    Crocker decided to ignore the terms of his father’s behest and from 1888 to 1891 lived in San Francisco as “one of the most reckless young men about town when reckless young men thereabouts were common” but then admitted himself to a sanatorium, put himself on the straight and narrow and finally collected the sum of $6 million in 1898.

     

    With wealth and a glamorous wife, Emma Rutherford, a widow from California, Crocker set himself up as the toast of New York society. Though he owned a townhouse at 1 East 64th Street and a villa in Newport, it was on paying $96,500 (the equivalent of £2.2 million or $2.8 million today) for the 1,100 acre Darling estate in Bergen County, Mahwah, New Jersey in 1901 that he truly became someone noticeable.

     

    Choosing what he called “the finest site for a residence in the country”, Crocker commissioned an architect named James Brite (died 1942) to build him a mansion “sparing no expense”. Modeled on a Jacobean prodigy house, Bramshill House in Hampshire, England and built from Indiana limestone and Harvard brick, the “Crocker Mansion” or “Darlington” – as it is more widely known – cost $2 million to build (the equivalent of £38.2 million or $49 million today) and included 75 rooms and around 50,000 square foot of accommodation. Its features included steam heating, elevators, ice cream freezers, integrated vacuum systems and a switchboard and in its grounds a racetrack and 16 greenhouses were constructed whilst a pond was stocked with 4,000 trout.

     

    Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate
    George Crocker and Emerson McMillin

    Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate

    Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate
    The design of Darlington was based on “one of the most haunted houses in England”, Bramshill in Hampshire; that building itself was also eventually separated from much of its estate and after being used as the European Police College was sold to developers City & Country for £25 million ($19.5 million) in 2014

     

    Commentators wowed at the resulting creation and noted details such as a library painted after the style of the Italian Renaissance by Tiffany Studios, elaborate wood carving by Italian craftsmen and Tiffany silver chandeliers and a 1906 Aeolian player pipe organ in the building’s 30-foot high Great Hall. In 1912, Architectural Record, chose even to swoon over the basement. They remarked:

     

    “Where Bramshill’s cellar housed for centuries lanterns, tallow dips, forest faggots, wooden vessels for the distribution of light, heat and water through personal service of human slaveys, its American reincarnation is a storehouse of miracle workers in the comfort and luxury of modern domestic life”.

     

    Unfortunately, Mr and Mrs Crocker did not truly get to enjoy the fruits of their extravagant spending. Emma Crocker died in 1904 of cancer and George Crocker also succumbed to the disease in 1909. His estate was valued at $20 million (the equivalent of £422 million or $541 million today) and amongst items found at his mansion were 60,000 personally monogrammed, custom-made cigars valued at $30,000 (the equivalent of £635,000 or $813,000 today).

     

    Sold subsequently to a “self-made” banker, industrialist and astronomy enthusiast named Emerson McMillin (1844 – 1922) in 1909 for $1 million (the equivalent of £21.1 million or $27.1 million), Darlington was next used to display a fine collection of Chinese and Japanese porcelain whilst a herd of Jerseys were kept in the grounds.

     

    After McMillin’s death, his widow sold the estate in 1924 for $685,000 (the equivalent of £7.6 million or $9.8 million) to the Darlington Development Company, which in turn made it available to the Darling Golf and Country Club. They converted the building to a hotel and club that “promised to offer a new dimension to life in Mahwah” but “the development corporation and the club were soon in financial difficulties” and the McMillin estate foreclosed and regained possession.

     

    A new buyer came forward in the form of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Newark. They paid $478,000 for the property in 1926 (the equivalent of £5.2 million or $6.6 million today) and used Darlington as a theological seminary. The surrounding land was gradually sold off and in 1986, the Immaculate Conception Seminary also departed.

     

    Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate
    Darlington today – The 30-foot high Great Hall is still dominated by a 1906 Aeolian player pipe organ
    Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate
    Darlington today – Ilija Pavlovic expanded the mansion by some 12,000 square foot and amongst other things added a large home cinema
    Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate
    Darlington today – Another addition comes in the form of a vast wine cellar; George Crocker’s father would not have approved

     

    Subsequently restored and modernised with, according to Forbes, plumbing, heating, air conditioning and communications systems being installed, Darlington was placed on the market with just 12.1 acres in 2005 by Darlington Associates, a firm who’d built “multiple residential communities surrounding the mansion”. An ambitious figure of $25 million (the equivalent of £24.4 million or $31.3 million today) was sought for the now classified historic site but it was not until 2008 that a buyer came forth in the form of a local businessman named Ilija Pavlovic. He paid just $8.875 million (the equivalent of £8 million or $10.2 million today) and then embarked on the “challenge” of “both preserving the historic home while also restoring it to meet 21st-century standards”. The resulting creation spans four floors and includes amongst many other things a tea room, 3 libraries, 2 game rooms, 2 kitchens, a “his and her master bedroom wing”, 12 further guest bedrooms and 5 staff bedrooms.

     

    The biggest issue with the house, it transpired, was that its 476 leaded windows needed to be replaced. This reportedly cost $2 million alone (the equivalent of £1.8 million or $2.3 million today) and in addition, Pavlovic renewed all the mechanical systems, redid all 19 bathrooms, replaced the slate roof and added amongst other things a spa with an indoor lap pool, a gym, a massage room, a beauty salon and a home cinema. There is also a gatehouse, a professional kitchen that can serve 250 meals at a time, a wine cellar, a poker room, a cigar room, a billiards room, an 8-car garage, a tennis court and an outdoor swimming pool.

     

    Property blog 6sqft – which claimed Friday that the current owners do not live at Darlington full-time and simply use it to host events – reported that this still massive mansion minus its formerly equally gigantic estate is now for sale now for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through a firm Mr Pavlovic chairs, Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate. Any buyer will undoubtedly be a vastly wealthy figure, but one can guarantee one thing: They’ll never live as lavishly as the barmy boozer George Crocker.

     

    Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real EstateLiving Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real EstateLiving Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real EstateLiving Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real EstateLiving Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real EstateLiving Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real EstateLiving Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real EstateLiving Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real EstateLiving Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real EstateLiving Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real EstateLiving Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real EstateLiving Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real EstateLiving Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real EstateLiving Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real EstateLiving Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate

  • Living Large

    Living Large

    New Jersey mansion Darlington, complete with 58 rooms, for sale for equivalent sum to what it cost to build in 1909; the £37 million house’s original owner was a man whose extravagance knew absolutely no bounds

    George Crocker (1856 – 1909) makes F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jay Gatsby seem like an amateur. Born in Sacramento and the son of a railway magnate worth some $30 million on his death (the equivalent of £634 million or $812 million today), Crocker was willed a significant $6 million (the equivalent of £127 million or $163 million today) on the condition that “after the space of five years continuously he shall abstain from the use of spirituous, vinous, and malt liquors to the extent that he shall not during this period have been intoxicated”.

     

    Crocker decided to ignore the terms of his father’s behest and from 1888 to 1891 lived in San Francisco as “one of the most reckless young men about town when reckless young men thereabouts were common” but then admitted himself to a sanatorium, put himself on the straight and narrow and finally collected the sum of $6 million in 1898.

     

    With wealth and a glamorous wife, Emma Rutherford, a widow from California, Crocker set himself up as the toast of New York society. Though he owned a townhouse at 1 East 64th Street and a villa in Newport, it was on paying $96,500 (the equivalent of £2.2 million or $2.8 million today) for the 1,100 acre Darling estate in Bergen County, Mahwah, New Jersey in 1901 that he truly became someone noticeable.

     

    Choosing what he called “the finest site for a residence in the country”, Crocker commissioned an architect named James Brite (died 1942) to build him a mansion “sparing no expense”. Modeled on a Jacobean prodigy house, Bramshill House in Hampshire, England and built from Indiana limestone and Harvard brick, the “Crocker Mansion” or “Darlington” – as it is more widely known – cost $2 million to build (the equivalent of £38.2 million or $49 million today) and included 75 rooms and around 50,000 square foot of accommodation. Its features included steam heating, elevators, ice cream freezers, integrated vacuum systems and a switchboard and in its grounds a racetrack and 16 greenhouses were constructed whilst a pond was stocked with 4,000 trout.

     

    Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate
    George Crocker and Emerson McMillin

    Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate

    Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate
    The design of Darlington was based on “one of the most haunted houses in England”, Bramshill in Hampshire; that building itself was also eventually separated from much of its estate and after being used as the European Police College was sold to developers City & Country for £25 million ($19.5 million) in 2014

    Commentators wowed at the resulting creation and noted details such as a library painted after the style of the Italian Renaissance by Tiffany Studios, elaborate wood carving by Italian craftsmen and Tiffany silver chandeliers and a 1906 Aeolian player pipe organ in the building’s 30-foot high Great Hall. In 1912, Architectural Record, chose even to swoon over the basement. They remarked:

     

    “Where Bramshill’s cellar housed for centuries lanterns, tallow dips, forest faggots, wooden vessels for the distribution of light, heat and water through personal service of human slaveys, its American reincarnation is a storehouse of miracle workers in the comfort and luxury of modern domestic life”.

     

    Unfortunately, Mr and Mrs Crocker did not truly get to enjoy the fruits of their extravagant spending. Emma Crocker died in 1904 of cancer and George Crocker also succumbed to the disease in 1909. His estate was valued at $20 million (the equivalent of £422 million or $541 million today) and amongst items found at his mansion were 60,000 personally monogrammed, custom-made cigars valued at $30,000 (the equivalent of £635,000 or $813,000 today).

     

    Sold subsequently to a “self-made” banker, industrialist and astronomy enthusiast named Emerson McMillin (1844 – 1922) in 1909 for $1 million (the equivalent of £21.1 million or $27.1 million), Darlington was next used to display a fine collection of Chinese and Japanese porcelain whilst a herd of Jerseys were kept in the grounds.

     

    After McMillin’s death, his widow sold the estate in 1924 for $685,000 (the equivalent of £7.6 million or $9.8 million) to the Darlington Development Company, which in turn made it available to the Darling Golf and Country Club. They converted the building to a hotel and club that “promised to offer a new dimension to life in Mahwah” but “the development corporation and the club were soon in financial difficulties” and the McMillin estate foreclosed and regained possession.

     

    A new buyer came forward in the form of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Newark. They paid $478,000 for the property in 1926 (the equivalent of £5.2 million or $6.6 million today) and used Darlington as a theological seminary. The surrounding land was gradually sold off and in 1986, the Immaculate Conception Seminary also departed.

     

    Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate
    Darlington today – The 30-foot high Great Hall is still dominated by a 1906 Aeolian player pipe organ

     

    Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate
    Darlington today – Ilija Pavlovic expanded the mansion by some 12,000 square foot and amongst other things added a large home cinema

     

    Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate
    Darlington today – Another addition comes in the form of a vast wine cellar; George Crocker’s father would not have approved

    Subsequently restored and modernised with, according to Forbes, plumbing, heating, air conditioning and communications systems being installed, Darlington was placed on the market with just 12.1 acres in 2005 by Darlington Associates, a firm who’d built “multiple residential communities surrounding the mansion”.

     

    An ambitious figure of $25 million (the equivalent of £24.4 million or $31.3 million today) was sought for the now classified historic site but it was not until 2008 that a buyer came forth in the form of a local businessman named Ilija Pavlovic. He paid just $8.875 million (the equivalent of £8 million or $10.2 million today) and then embarked on the “challenge” of “both preserving the historic home while also restoring it to meet 21st-century standards”. The resulting creation spans four floors and includes amongst many other things a tea room, 3 libraries, 2 game rooms, 2 kitchens, a “his and her master bedroom wing”, 12 further guest bedrooms and 5 staff bedrooms.

     

    The biggest issue with the house, it transpired, was that its 476 leaded windows needed to be replaced. This reportedly cost $2 million alone (the equivalent of £1.8 million or $2.3 million today) and in addition, Pavlovic renewed all the mechanical systems, redid all 19 bathrooms, replaced the slate roof and added amongst other things a spa with an indoor lap pool, a gym, a massage room, a beauty salon and a home cinema. There is also a gatehouse, a professional kitchen that can serve 250 meals at a time, a wine cellar, a poker room, a cigar room, a billiards room, an 8-car garage, a tennis court and an outdoor swimming pool.

     

    Property blog 6sqft – which claimed Friday that the current owners do not live at Darlington full-time and simply use it to host events – reported that this still massive mansion minus its formerly equally gigantic estate is now for sale now for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through a firm Mr Pavlovic chairs, Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate. Any buyer will undoubtedly be a vastly wealthy figure, but one can guarantee one thing: They’ll never live as lavishly as the barmy boozer George Crocker.

     

    Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real EstateLiving Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate Living Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real EstateLiving Large – Crocker Mansion or Darlington, Mahwah, Bergen County, New Jersey, NJ 07430, United States of America – Built by George Crocker and currently owned by Ilija Pavlovic – For sale for £37.4 million ($48 million, €44.7 million or درهم176.3 million) through Special Properties Real Estate Services – an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate