09/23/2026
HUGUETTE CLARK'S 907 FIFTH. THIS IS A LONG ONE, SO BUCKLE UP: I'd wager one or two people who follow this page have read Empty Mansions (and if you haven't pls go *right now* and order a copy), about the eccentric heiress who had oodles of money and a penchant for collecting properties she never actually lived in. WELL, three of those properties (lol) were at 907 Fifth Ave, the JER Carpenter-designed apartment house on the corner of East 72nd Street.
Huguette and her mother Anna lived in the truly palatial 12th-floor penthouse which had 28-ish rooms for a few years after decamping from their folly of a mansion down the avenue, but then Huguette got married and moved to France and Anna moved into a smaller apartment (still quite large by today's standards) in the building.
After Huguette divorced, she came back to NYC hoping to return to the mansion in the sky. There was just one problem: It had been subdivided into two large apartments. So she moved into 12W and then bought both apartments on the 8th floor. Was she hoping to recreate the 28-room spread on 8? Whatever her intentions, the apartments sat vacant—until 12W sold in 2012 for $25,500,000. It sold most recently, off market, in Jan 2025 for $37,500,000.
