If you’re looking for a large and notable property in Connecticut, this listing might just be for you. While it’s not uncommon to see sprawling estates in bucolic Litchfield County, the same opportunity doesn’t seem to pop up as often in Fairfield County. However, New Canaan, which is known for its quintessential Colonials and even Midcentury Moderns designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and Philip Johnson, has a 52-acre estate newly for sale. Known as “Le Beau Chateau,” it just hit the market for $25.5 million.
The sellers are fashion designer Reed Krakoff (who has held roles at Tommy Hilfiger, Coach, and Tiffany & Co.) and interior designer Delphine Krakoff. The design-minded couple bought the property in 2014, three years after the death of the prior owner: Copper heiress Huguette Clark. After she purchased the French-style home in 1951, it sat empty for 61 years until her death in 2011. Clark infamously spent the final 20 years of her life in an NYC hospital, refusing to leave (even though she owned this spread and a 42-room Fifth Avenue apartment).
The Krakoffs beautifully restored and redesigned the circa-1937 mansion. It was even featured in Architectural Digest in 2017. Known for their taste, a book about the couple’s residences was also published in 2017, called Houses That We Dreamt Of: The Interiors of Delphine and Reed Krakoff.
At this home of theirs, the floor plan includes nine bedrooms, 10 full bathrooms, four half-baths. As well as the stately main house, the property offers two cottages, a two-bedroom caretakers’ cottage, and an exercise pavilion. The grounds boast meadows, lawns, streams, forests, a pool, and a tennis court.
The sellers have an impressive real estate resume and even once owned Jackie Kennedy Onassis’ childhood Hamptons home called Lasata. For those interested in being the next custodians of this renowned New Canaan address, Rob Johnson and Mary Higgins of Brown Harris Stevens hold the listing.
