John and Marianne Castle sell
house to company linked to seasonal Palm Beacher
Jane Goldman.
Daily News Real Estate Writer
Known to millions as the
“Winter White House,” the former Kennedy family compound on the ocean in Palm
Beach has changed hands for a recorded $31 million.
Merchant banker John K. Castle
and his wife, Marianne, sold the 1920s-era house, its two outbuildings and
about an acre of land — with 200 feet of beachfront — to a company associated
with seasonal Palm Beacher Jane Goldman, according to the deed recorded today
by the Palm Beach County Clerk. The Castles bought the estate at 1095 N. Ocean
Blvd. from the Kennedy family in 1995.
The Castles shared the view of
historians who consider the house an iconic piece of American history
associated with one of the nation’s most prominent families. It was a place
where generations of Kennedys lived and played, including President John F.
Kennedy, who is said to have worked on his inaugural address there.
Even so, the town never granted
landmark protection to the house, which has been much changed since it was
designed in 1923 by noted society architect Addison Mizner. But the buyer in
this week’s sale plans to keep the Mediterranean-style residence intact,
according to sources familiar with the deal.
With New York ties, Goldman is
a principal of Solil Management, a family company that manages assets related
to the fortune amassed by her late father, New York City real estate investor
Sol Goldman. She bought the house using a Florida limited liability company
named TGS Florida LLC. In March, Goldman’s 1952 lakefront house at 200 Via
Palma in the Estate Section sold for a recorded $29.85 million, property
records show.
A confidentiality agreement
prevents all parties involved in this week’s sale from commenting, said Paul
Rampell, the Castles’ Palm Beach attorney.
The Castles had paid a recorded
$4.9 million for the North End estate and acquired its furnishings. Their
subsequent two-year renovation added air conditioning for the first time and
carefully preserved several rooms to look as they had when used by President
Kennedy, first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and their two young children.
“We wanted to preserve the
things that were preservable,” John Castle told the Palm Beach Daily News in
1999 after the renovation was completed.
Broker Lawrence Moens of
Lawrence A. Moens & Associates handled both sides of this week’s sale, his
office confirmed. He listed the estate in the local multiple listing service
for $38.5 million in April 2014, although he had marketed the property privately
several months prior with ads promoting “a rare chance to own Camelot.” Moens’
listing expired in late March. He could not be reached.
Two months ago, Moens acted on
Goldman’s behalf in the sale of her lakefront house, which was owned by a
limited liability company she controlled. The buyers were television executive
Herbert J. Siegel and his wife, Jeanne Sorensen Siegel, who were represented by
Corcoran Group agents Colleen Hanson and John Campbell.
In all, the former Kennedy
compound has 15,347 square feet of living space, 11 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms and
three half-baths, according to Moens’ sales listing.
The house can’t be seen from
the street, thanks to its high perimeter wall and wooden gate, which are the
only parts of the property landmarked by the town.
The Kennedys successfully
fought against landmark status several times over 15 years, fearing it would
make the estate more difficult to sell. The wall and gate were finally named
landmarks as a condition of the sale to the Castles, who wanted to renovate
without hindrance.
Renovated by Kennedys
Boston-based Joseph P. Kennedy
Sr., the family’s patriarch, bought the house in 1933 from the Wanamakers — of
Philadelphia department-store fame — for use as a winter retreat for his
family, including wife Rose and their children.
The two-story house was
designed for Rodman Wanamaker II by noted society architect Addison Mizner.
With its simplified Mediterranean-style architecture, it was originally named
“La Querida,” loosely translated as “the dear one,” although many sources have
erroneously recorded the name as “La Guerida.” The Castles called the estate
“Castillo del Mar” (“castle by the sea”).
Needing more space for his
large brood, Kennedy Sr. bought adjacent land and hired society architect
Maurice Fatio to expand the house and add a two-story garage building, tennis
court and pool pavilion.
Kennedy Sr. made the house his
legal residence in 1941 and often vacationed alone there, frequently swimming
in the pool, according to his biographers. John F. Kennedy is said to have
written his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage, at the house
while recovering from back surgery in 1956. He and his advisers later discussed
the composition of his Cabinet at the estate, although the president reportedly
spent many nights at a neighbor’s home nearby rather than in the house itself,
according to the late architectural historian Donald C. Curl.
Members of the family famously
played touch football on the lawn that stretches down to the beach or played
tennis on the street-side court. After giving birth to her son in 1960,
Jacqueline Kennedy recuperated at the house. In November 1963, the president
spent the weekend in Palm Beach immediately before heading to Texas, where he
was assassinated in Dallas.
Rose Kennedy continued to use
the house after the death of her husband, a former U.S. ambassador to England,
in 1969. She died in Hyannis Port, Mass. — where the family had another
well-known estate — the same year the Castles bought the Palm Beach house.
In 1991, the Palm Beach
property landed in the international spotlight again when it was the site of an
alleged incident that led to sexual assault charges against William Kennedy
Smith, who was exonerated at his trial later that year.
Smith’s uncle, the late U.S.
Rep. Ted Kennedy, was on the property that night with Smith and frequently used
the house during that time.
The house also was a
destination for other members of the extended family, although their visits had
declined by the time the property was sold 20 years ago.
“To us, it was always the beach
house,” Anthony Shriver, JFK’s nephew, told The Palm Beach Post in 2003.
Refurbished and restored
The Castles bought the estate
from more than a dozen members of the Kennedy family and a trust. Among those
listed as sellers on the 1995 deed were Ted Kennedy, the late John F. Kennedy
Jr. and his sister, Caroline Kennedy. Agent Ned Monell of Sotheby’s
International Realty had the $7-million listing, and Paulette Koch, then an
independent broker and today an agent with the Corcoran Group, acted for the
Castles.
An avid sailboater with an
interest in equestrian show-jumpers, John Castle founded the private merchant
bank Castle Harlan in 1987. He serves as chairman and CEO of the company and
its successor, CHI Private Equity. He also heads Castle Connolly Medical Ltd.
and Branford Castle Inc.
The Castles preserved two
adjacent first-floor bedrooms, known as the “President’s Room” and the
“Attorney General’s Room.” The latter name referred to the late Robert F.
Kennedy, who served in that post during his brother’s administration.
The Castles refurbished and
restored beds, a chest and tables they found in the bedrooms when they bought
the house. The furnishings include a massage table reportedly used by JFK
during his recuperation from back surgery.
In the library, most of the
furniture was simply recovered or refreshed, according to the 1999 article in
the Daily News.
The renovation added a turret
to the front facade to house a new spiral staircase. The Castles also built a
two-story addition on the south side. A former loggia became a family room, and
they updated the kitchen with an expanded pantry. Windows also were enlarged to
better capture ocean views.
Outside, the so-called “bull
pen,” where Joseph Kennedy Sr. sunned himself, was rebuilt as a fully enclosed
two-story pool house.
The Castles referred to the
central bedroom as “Rose’s Room,” while two others were called John-John and
Caroline’s rooms because the president’s children were known to have occupied
them. The Castles also merged upstairs staff bedrooms to become guest rooms and
work areas.
During their tenure, the
Castles hosted charitable events at the house benefiting such organizations as
the Children’s Home Society and American Friends of the Uffizi Museum.
In 2011, the Castles were
involved in a high-provide dispute with their immediate neighbors to the north
after Stephen and Jill Karp announced plans to build a guest addition. The
Castles argued for more than a year that the project would impinge on their
privacy and block their ocean view. The Karps’ plans were eventually altered so
that the addition wouldn’t extend any farther east than the eastern façade of
the Castle’s residence.
In 2012, John Castle made
headlines of a different sort when Paul Kucik, a waiter at private Club
Colette, accused him of breaking his finger during a dispute over a bill. No
police charges were ever brought, and both sides agreed to a voluntary
dismissal of a civil lawsuit and counterclaim related to the episode. A third lawsuit
filed against Castle in 2013 by Kucik remains active, circuit court records
show.
But in 2001, John Castle told
the Post that he and his wife took their stewardship of the house seriously.
“We do feel, to some degree, we’re protecting a legacy,” he said.
“I’m a Republican, of course,
so I don’t want to confuse things, but I thought Jack Kennedy was an
outstanding president with a great deal of vision,” he told the same reporter.
“I think a lot of his vision for our country may well have come from the fact
that he was able to sit there on the lawn and reflect on where the country
should go.”