Ode to Gilded Age and the Mega Broker who sells them

NEW YORK, FOR AT LEAST AS LONG AS MANY OF US REMEMBER, has always been the brightest star in the firmament of cities — the center of finance, deal-making, commerce, art, fashion and more. While it may be true that recently there have been tough times for our beloved home, things are changing for the better. And, so many New Yorkers have started to ask themselves if New York is finally having its glorious comeback moment, reminiscent of a more prosperous time. The answer may well be, Yes! This is particularly true when Manhattan’s real estate is in the equation. From a few remaining old mansions to a score of new uber-luxury high-rise condos, record sales are being broken in the high-end market. A case in point — 854 Fifth Avenue, one of the last regal homes of the Gilded Age.

Enter Tristan Harper, the mega-broker with Douglas Elliman Real Estate. After over 75 years in the same hands, Tristan recently sold this 20,000 square foot haute residence for a whopping $50 million. Additionally, and unusually, the buyer paid all the closing costs adding almost 12% to the total price, in this unique off-market deal.

Designed in 1903 by architects Warren and Wetmore of Manhattan’s Grand Central Station fame, this historic home was designated an Individual Landmark, for its “impressive purity of style which was executed with such finesse and authority,” in 1969.

Over 30 foot-wide stately Beaux Arts-style residence was inspired by Le Petit Trianon of the Versailles Palace complex. The mansion features 32 oversized rooms and 12 bathrooms spread on nine levels directly opposite Central Park. Its spectacular views are of some most iconic buildings, both old and new.

Most of the home’s original details remain intact to this day, including two stunning 18th Century French tapestries presiding over the grand winding staircase, 17 fireplaces, hand-carved balustrades made of single pieces of rare Italian marble, gold-leafed boiserie, hand-painted ceilings reminiscent of the Old Continent, paneling from an antique French Chateau retrofitted to this space, and two elevators. There is also an ornate skylight over a two-story high main hall with ceilings 34 feet tall.

Tristan Harper is likely the only broker who would have been able to pull off a record setting deal selling such a trophy home. A New York resident for over 30 years, Tristan has been born, raised, and educated throughout Europe. His ancestors were prominent landowners who had once been granted aristocratic titles from the Venetian rulers of their coastal Adriatic territories, so Tristan has a genteel quality and unique approach to real estate.

Underneath his air of refined yet friendly sophistication lies a businessman who does not break, no matter how many fickle clients he is forced to deal with simultaneously. In this case, those were five foreign governments who jointly owned the property, a couple of local billionaires (the would-be buyers), and finally, a purchaser whom he never met or spoke with directly.

Tristan is well known as the pre-eminent broker to the gilded set. He offers personalized services to an elite group of clients, many of whom own multiple properties around the world. Their broker-extraordinaire is perhaps one of the few in the business whose interpersonal relationships and attention to confidentiality are valued substantially over social media promotion or “electronic” communication.

While he sells throughout the City, he focuses on prime “Fifth to Park Avenues corridor”. This is where he works, lives, and has his office. With other homes in Palm Beach and in Europe, Tristan not only sells, but also understands the lifestyle of his clients. He truly lives by his business motto — “making the unbelievable – livable”.

“It is my business model to act as a ‘private broker’ to a limited number of exclusive clients, those who require my full attention, expect the highest level of service, and appreciate my expertise in real estate, but also in architecture, design, art, investments, development, and more. I chose such a modus operandi many years ago, and I remain consistent to it. I rarely advertise and can hardly ever be found on social media. My business is almost all referral based and private. I am committed to my clients whether they are looking for a manor or a studio. Many of them jokingly ask if I ever sleep, as I routinely answer their calls or messages from different time zones, almost immediately,” says Tristan.

Among numerous significant transactions, the tenacious Mr. Harper has been responsible for the largest sale of the year recorded in Manhattan after the 9/11 tragedy. At the time, the rest of the City’s real estate was at a total standstill. Most brokers were in total despair. “My client had flown in from the Midwest, just weeks after the attack. Having previously sold his technology company, he was looking to purchase his perfect Manhattan pied-à-terre. His main requirement was outdoor space, because his then girlfriend had a ‘green thumb’. A weekend and almost $19Million later, he purchased a 5,000-square-foot penthouse duplex with a wraparound terrace in a billionaire-filled building on Park Avenue,” Tristan remembers.

Fast-forward to 2022, and the logistically complex sale of 854 Fifth Avenue, the property with perhaps the most unique history involving just a few, but very high-profile owners.

The house was built for R. Livingston Beekman who became the Governor of Rhode Island and sold the house to George Grant. Soon after, Henry White and his heiress-wife Emily Thorn Vanderbilt Sloane White, the granddaughter of scion Cornelius Vanderbilt, became the new owners. They hosted countless Gilded Age society soirees, dinner parties and balls in the house.

In 1946, Josip Broz Tito, the late head of Yugoslavia’s socialist federal republic purchased the house for his country’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations. The communist strongman rarely visited but he hid out in the property following an assassination attempt against him at the Waldorf Astoria.

Two years earlier, in 1961, Tito and the presidents of Egypt, Ghana, India and Indonesia drafted a plan for the creation of the Non-Aligned Movement in one of the main rooms of the mansion. The Movement will grow to become an alliance of almost one third of the world’s nations that purported to be “nonaligned” with the two superpowers of the Cold-War.

After Tito’s Yugoslavia disintegrated in the civil war of the 1990s, the property was “inherited” by the governments of the five Successor States including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia.

In the early 2000s the five Balkan countries signed an UN-sponsored treaty on distribution of Yugoslavia’s assets – a portfolio of over 200 properties worldwide, including 854 Fifth Avenue.

However, it was not until 2016 that the owners got ready to sell the property and released a worldwide “Invitation to Tender Services.” An advertisement in Financial Times required anonymous submission of multiple documents proving the broker’s expertise and financial ability to market the building. A Joint Committee of the five sellers unanimously granted Mr. Harper and his firm the exclusive listing for this property, and four additional comparable assets in Switzerland, Germany, Japan, and the US.

The week the listing went live, the veteran broker received two full-price all-cash offers. However, the sellers appeared “caught by surprise” at the interest the home garnered. “Due to the complexity of negotiations and internal procedures among the owners, those deals were never agreed upon,” explains Tristan.

Then, in December of 2018, a devastating fire caused by faulty wiring, almost destroyed the gilded residence. At least four people, including three firefighters, were transported to the hospital. Thankfully, the damage was localized to the façade and the third floor, but the house couldn’t be shown until repaired. Also, it remained off the market for most of 2020, due to Covid-19 pandemic.

However, in mid-2021, the perennial top agent received another full price offer, this time sight-unseen. It took almost nine months for the contract to be ready for signatures, and necessitated Tristan’s multiple trips to the Balkan countries, even meeting one of the presidents, there. According to Tristan, who successfully tackled many tumultuous upsets and standstills surrounding negotiations, the sellers’ primary concern was a transparency among the parties. Therefore, the representatives of the five co-owners would have to physically sit together in the same room and sign at the same time. Even the closing, further six months later, was unusual. It was split up into three parts, with different paperwork signed at different “sessions”. “This was a truly a one-of-a-kind deal, and undeniably the most challenging one for all. It would have never happened without the commitment and determination of everyone involved,” humbly notes the superstar broker.

Now, the new owner will give the new life to this Grand Dame of New York’s Gilded Age. The much needed renovation and restoration will likely take years before the stately home will be brought to the old glory at 21st century standards. Among the possible “upgrades” is an architect’s vision to build an infinity-edge pool on the roof of the mansion, so swimming there would feel like “floating” above Central Park.

While the sale of this Gilded Age property may have been the most remarkable deal of his career so far, Tristan believes that the future of real estate business is in Metaverse, far away from the Gilded Age. “Technology already enables clients to tour homes which may be thousands of miles away, offering a clear utility in our field. Embracing virtual reality and the Metaverse to sell real estate is one of the important paths I am taking in order to remain competitive and better serve my clients,” concludes Tristan.

And, what will come next in the future of 854 Fifth Avenue? The rest, and perhaps the best part of its history is yet about to be written.