The finishes, Fireman says, are particularly notable. “We have a lot of marble and a lot of limestone” shipped from a quarry in Indiana. “Every block came numbered.”
The wood paneling in the library is black walnut. “We had a guy from France come in for a couple of months,” Fireman explains. “He and his assistant had to polish the ceiling and walls and floors by hand. The whole room is just like a piece of furniture.”
Perfect for Art
The house was formally completed in 1999, and Fireman, his wife, and their decorator set about filling it with furniture and decorations.
“We had a very good time; we’d travel the world looking for antiques,” he says. “It wasn’t quick and dirty, it was a long process.” Along with decoration, Fireman says the house was perfect for his art collection. “There’s a lot of impressionist work, some contemporary, and some modern,” he says. (Should a prospective buyer want the furniture, that would be a separate conversation.)
In one photo in the house’s listing, a Modigliani painting hangs above a fireplace. Photos of the house’s interior on the architect’s website display paintings by Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, and Mark Rothko, along with sculptures by Nikki de Saint Phalle and others.
Last Lap
Fireman decided to sell, he says, “because we got older. Twenty years will do it to you—we’re in the last lap, so to speak.” His children are all married and no longer live in the house, and so “we ended up buying another house, taking it down, and building something quieter and smaller and yet, still very nice.”
His house, Fireman says, will appeal to anyone who likes “the privacy, and the exclusiveness” of the land. “I’d also assume they’ll be pretty wealthy,” he says.
The entire property is “beautiful and glamorous, and if I was 40, I’d stay in it, but I’m 75,” Fireman continues. “The house will be here 500 years from now.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.