Astor Courts, the historic Beaux Arts style estate located in Rhinebeck, NY and set on 50 acres overlooking the Hudson River, is up for auction. This week-end's NY Times showcased 2 adds for the auction details - bids are due by October 8 & selling to the highest bidder above $7.5 million. Astor Courts' 30,000 square feet comprises of 5 bedrooms, 4 and a half baths, an indoor swimming pool, and indoor clay tennis court. This home's most recent claim to fame is that it played host for Chelsea Clinton's summer wedding. Astor Courts' history starts with its architect Sanford White, who designed the home in 1902 for John Jacob Astor IV. Unfortunately for Astor, he only had a short time to appreciate his commissioned home, having gone down with the Titanic eight years after its completion. Astor's eldest son Vincent, inherited the home and in the 1940's began renovation work to the property. Upon Vincent Astor's death in 1959, his third wife, Brooke Astor (the legendary NY socialite), donated the estate to the Catholic Archdiocese of New York, where it became a nursing home & convent. By the 1980s, Astor Court returned to its original private home status and current owners Kathleen Hammer & Arthur Seelbinder purchased the home - which had fallen into a dilated state - in late 2004 for $3.2 million. Following a tasteful full scale renovation, Hammer & Seelbinder placed Astor Courts on the market in the Fall of 2009 for $12 million. It was taken off the market prior to Chelsea's wedding, and now put back on within this auction format. Click
here for more info and auction details, click
here to read more from the NY Times Home Section article published in November 2008 about Hammer & Seelbinder's renovation, and check out below the images of Astor Courts.