Kaufmann House Deal Undone

Posted by: Chris Palmeri on October 30, 2008

kaufmann.jpg

In another sign that even the rich are suffering in this crisis, a deal to purchase the Kaufmann House, a famous modernist design by architect Richard Neutra, fell apart recently. The Palm Springs home was promoted as a work of art and sold last May at auction house Christie’s for $19 million.

But that deal came undone. It’s listed now for $12.9 million. Edgar Kaufmann, by the way, was a department store mogul from Pittsburgh who also commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Fallingwater. He knew something about markdowns.

According to a recent account in the Los Angeles Times, the present owners, a divorcing couple—he’s a big wig at bond giant Pimco, have invested about $11 million in the property.

Reader Comments

Debra Sinick

November 12, 2008 1:43 PM

I just caught this article. I did not realize the deal had come undone. This explains the spike in the reading of my blog post I wrote when earlier this year about the auction for the Kaufmann house. I am sad to hear this and hope whoever buys the home respects its importance and value as a mid-century icon.

http://eastsiderealestatebuzz.com/2008/05/20/house-home-architecture-art-a-palm-springs-mid-century-modern-masterpiece-is-auctioned/

Elaine Silvermann

November 27, 2008 12:44 PM

Owner of Palm Springs Waterfall House refuses requests to open home for tours.

The owner of The Waterfall House, the modern residential structure designed by architect James Cioffi, has said he will not open the home for public tours.
Craig Baskin, who recently purchsed the property, located in Palm Springs' south end, home to some of the most unique modern residences in the US, turned down our most recent request.

Ronald Felton

October 25, 2009 2:23 PM

The Waterfall House was open for a deisgn tour in October, 2009.

Post a comment

 

About

BusinessWeek editors Chris Palmeri, Prashant Gopal and Peter Coy chronicle the highs and lows of the housing and mortgage markets on their Hot Property blog. In print and online, the Hot Property team first wrote about the potential downside of lenders pushing riskier, "option ARM" mortgages and the rise in mortgage fraud back in 2005—well ahead of many other media outlets. In 2008, Hot Property bloggers finished #1 in a ranking of the world's top 100 "most powerful property people" by the British real estate website Global edge. Hot Property was named among the 25 most influential real estate blogs of 2007 by Inman News.

RSS Feed: Hot Property

BW Mall - Sponsored Links

Buy a link now!