Interestingly, Bob Guccione was one of the first casualties of the new porn economics.
from www.nypost.com – Talk about real-estate porn.
Skin-mag mogul Bob Guccione’s former Upper East Side mansion — already one of the biggest town houses in Manhattan — will become the city’s largest palace of excess as renovations of epic proportions add 5,300 square feet, from a two-level basement to a penthouse terrace, The Post has learned.
The new owners, billionaires Philip and Lisa Maria Falcone [pictured], bought the limestone mansion on East 67th Street between Fifth and Madison avenues in 2008 for $49 million, one of the highest prices ever paid for a town house. Now they are pumping in at least another $10 million to create a 25,726-square-foot mini-city.
City records and interviews show that the mega-manse will include:
* A new 34-foot-long indoor swimming pool to replace the one the former Penthouse magazine publisher surrounded with statues, including lead sphinxes that were cast for Napoleon and a prop from his X-rated film “Caligula.”
* A private spa, with a gym, sauna, steam room and small plunge pool.
* Their own personal concierge service complete with a dry-cleaning “press room” in the basement.
* A backup gas generator in the sub-basement should the power fail.
* One flight up, a state-of-the-art security room filled with monitors, where guards can keep an eye on the household and sidewalk.
* A personal movie theater, complete with three-row stadium seating (with full-size recliners), surround sound and a projection room.
* A master suite encompassing the entire third floor, with his and her baths and two dressing rooms for her. One closet features a bar should a cocktail be necessary while choosing shoes.
* Additional opportunities to imbibe at the basement and first-floor bars and at one next to the pool.
* Nine full bathrooms and six half-baths.
* Two sets of elevators — one for the family, the other for the help.
* A suite for the nanny on the children’s floor, which will be shared by the couple’s 5-year-old twin daughters.
* Plenty of room to roam for the Falcones’ pet Vietnamese pot-bellied pig, Wilbur, who reportedly plays piano and spins if offered a Cheerio.
* Heated sidewalks to melt away ice and snow, according to a source familiar with the renovation. But the Falcones are only contemplating this amenity and haven’t applied to the city for the necessary permission.
The Falcones dispatched with Guccione’s flourishes, auctioning off objects such as marble toilets and a marble column with a likeness of the porn king carved at the top.