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Bette midler in new york


Bette Midler house: tour her Upper East Side apartment

(Image credit: Brown Harris Stevens )

Actress, singer and all-round amazing entertainer Bette Midler is selling her gorgeous Upper East Side home, which she and her husband Martin von Haselberg, a performance artist, bought in 1996. 

The 14-room penthouse occupies the top three floors of one of Fifth Avenue's finest pre-war co-op buildings, designed by renowned architect Emery Roth in neo-Renaissance style and completed in 1925. Offering spectacular views of Central Park and the iconic Manhattan skyline, it boasts an impressive 7,000 square feet of living space and a further 3,000 square feet of landscaped outdoor terraces. 

Before the couple moved in they had their home extensively remodelled. Walls were removed, ceilings raised and oversized windows installed, flooding it with natural light. Oak flooring was fitted throughout, and rooms decorated in a palette of gentle neutral shades by interior designer Fernando Santangelo . Take a tour below.

(Image credit: Brown Harris Stevens )

(Image credit: Brown Harris Stevens )

Stepping out of the elevator on the 16th floor, the penthouse’s main entrance opens on to a large, light-filled gallery which flows seamlessly into a vast and airy entertaining space with super-high ceilings. It includes a south-facing conservatory area, a double living room, a formal dining room, an office and a guest bathroom. 

(Image credit: Brown Harris Stevens )

There’s also a bright and airy eat-in kitchen, incorporating a central island, custom-made pale wooden cabinets, marble countertops and top-end stainless steel appliances such as a Fisher & Paykel induction range, Sub Zero refrigerator and Miele dishwasher. 

(Image credit: Brown Harris Stevens )

(Image credit: Brown Harris Stevens )

All the main rooms lead out to the wraparound terrace overlooking the park and reservoir. It’s lined with thriving plants and provides plenty of sheltered spots for alfresco eating, relaxing and soaking up the sun. 

Nature is close to Bette Midler’s heart – in 1995 she founded the New York Restoration Project, a conservancy which has planted trees, renovated gardens, restored parks and transformed open spaces for communities throughout New York City’s five boroughs.

(Image credit: Brown Harris Stevens )

(Image credit: Brown Harris Stevens )

(Image credit: Brown Harris Stevens )

Most of the top floor, accessed via a sweeping staircase, is taken up by a library featuring 13-feet tall ceilings, full-height fitted bookcases, a wood burning fireplace – one of three in the apartment – and comfy seating, with a charming rooftop garden outside.

(Image credit: Brown Harris Stevens )

All the bedrooms are on the 15th floor, underneath the entertaining space. The enormous corner master bedroom suite faces Central Park and comprises vast expanses of closet space, a large bathroom and a generously-sized study/dressing area with another wood burning fireplace. 

(Image credit: Brown Harris Stevens )

(Image credit: Brown Harris Stevens )

There’s an equally sumptuous second bedroom plus three further bedrooms – all with bathrooms – and a family room offering the flexibility to be transformed into another bedroom. A laundry room is conveniently located on this level.

(Image credit: Brown Harris Stevens )

(Image credit: Brown Harris Stevens )

Privacy and security are taken very seriously, and the building has a full-time doorman and elevator attendant.  

(Image credit: Brown Harris Stevens )

The apartment is on the market at $50 million, through Brown Harris Stevens .

(Image credit: Brown Harris Stevens )

(Image credit: Brown Harris Stevens )

Where does Bette Midler live now?

A dedicated New Yorker, Bette Midler still lives in the city. She’s said to be looking for a smaller apartment nearby. Now that her actress daughter Sophie has fled the nest, the penthouse is much too big for two people. 

Is Bette Midler’s building a magnet for celebrities? 

Famous residents have included Jon Bon Jovi, actors Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates, and Bob Iger, Disney’s executive chairman.

Jennifer is the Digital Editor at Homes & Gardens. Having worked in the interiors industry for a number of years, spanning many publications, she now hones her digital prowess on the 'best interiors website' in the world. Multi-skilled, Jennifer has worked in PR and marketing, and the occasional dabble in the social media, commercial and e-commerce space. Over the years, she has written about every area of the home, from compiling design houses from some of the best interior designers in the world to sourcing celebrity homes, reviewing appliances and even the odd news story or two.

Bette Midler Sells Carnegie Hill Triplex for $45M

Bette Midler Sells Carnegie Hill Triplex for $45M

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Bette Midler and 1125 Fifth Avenue (Google Maps, Getty)

After more than two decades, it’s time to close the curtains on Bette Midler’s Upper East Side penthouse.

Midler and her husband, Martin von Haselberg, sold their triplex at 1125 Fifth Avenue for $45 million, property records show. John Burger of Brown Harris Stevens had the listing.

The couple first listed the co-op for $50 million in September 2019. The unknown buyer purchased the property through a trust administered by the New York-based law firm Ganfer Shore Leeds & Zauderer.

Midler had lived in the home since the 1990s, but decided to put the home up for sale after her daughter, actress Sophie von Haselberg, moved out. In an email to the New York Times in 2019, Midler said it was “time for another family to enjoy it.”

The sun-drenched co-op spans 7,000 square feet over three floors and includes 3,000 square feet of landscaped terracing, according to the listing. It features six bedrooms, six-and-a-half bathrooms, and a 70-foot entertaining space with views of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline.

The home is just a few doors down from a penthouse recently purchased by Paul McCartney’s brother-in-law John Eastman, an entertainment lawyer who once represented The Beatles.

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Visiting Bette Midler: photo of the actress's penthouse in New York

Apartments

We all know Bette Midler as the consummate comedian. And she, it turns out, is also a lover of flowers - they are everywhere in her penthouse in New York.

We all know Bette Midler as the consummate comedian. And she, it turns out, is also a lover of flowers - they are everywhere in her penthouse in New York.

Bette Midler by the fireplace in her apartment. The tiles it is lined with are handmade by ceramist Kim Dickey.

William Waldron/ OTTO/ Legion-Media

Bette Midler was born in Hawaii and cannot imagine her life without connection with nature. You understand, when you live in the city center, and even on the top floor, there may be problems with plants within walking distance. But Miss Midler never gave in to difficulties and was not going to. The lion's share of the area of ​​her three-level penthouse is occupied by all sorts of terraces, winter gardens and flower corners. Where there are no natural flowers, there are bouquets. Where there are no bouquets, floral prints appear. nine0003

Living room. A special place here is occupied by an antique suite designed by Josef Hoffmann. Art Deco carpet Bette bought in Paris.

William Waldron/ OTTO/ Legion-Media

In addition to the floral theme, the interior created by designer Fernando Santangelo and architect Frederick Fischer has no fundamental concept. And it could not be: Bette Midler surrounds herself only with things that she likes, regardless of time, style and price. Her mother was a seamstress and her father a painter, so she appreciates handicraft, so there are many handicraft items in the interior. nine0003

On the small veranda are armchairs in the style of Napoleon III and floor lamps bought at a flea market. The lamps are made from vintage kimonos.

William Waldron/ OTTO/ Legion-Media

Bette loves natural light, so the apartment has plenty of windows. She likes colors that are light, natural, so the furniture is mostly cream and the wood floors are golden. The apartment has an unusual plan: all public areas are located on the middle level, the bedrooms are downstairs, and upstairs there is only a library with access to one of the terraces. nine0003

Breakfast area. The kitchen was designed by Frederick Fischer. The chandelier was bought in Paris. The chairs are antique, from Sweden, they were repainted for the project.

William Waldron/ OTTO/ Legion-Media

Here are the terraces and flower beds (planned by Sawyer/Berson) Bette is passionate about. He can talk for hours about the need to arrange rooftop gardens wherever possible. Carefully chooses varieties of roses. She has only one disappointment in connection with this apartment: she did not manage to plant her favorite peonies in the garden. These fragile flowers cannot stand the wind that is inevitable at altitude. nine0003

Terrace with dining table and chairs designed by Sawyer/Berson.

William Waldron/ OTTO/ Legion-Media

But you can't really have everything in life.

The terrace is paved with lime slabs interspersed with moss “slabs”.

William Waldron/ OTTO/ Legion-Media

Photo: William Waldron/ OTTO/ Legion-Media

Star from Honolulu // Jewish.Ru — Global Jewish Online Center

She considered herself fat and ugly Jewish, but her jokes were loved in the saunas of New York, and her acting in films - all over the world. Bette Midler went from a cannery to Hollywood and realized that happiness is just being in trouble with yourself. nine0053

Bette Midler was born in Honolulu on December 1, 1945 to Fred and Ruth Midler. The girl's parents met in New Jersey, and then left for the Hawaiian Islands, which Fred always dreamed of. He worked as a painter at the naval base at Pearl Harbor, and in his spare time he carried out orders from neighbors and acquaintances, but he still did not have enough money. Ruth, on the other hand, tried to give the children maximum care and support, constantly feeling unhappy: she did not like Hawaii, she called herself “an abandoned Jew in the wilds of a foreign culture.” In addition to everything, the Midlers' youngest child, son Daniel, suffered from mental retardation and required special care, which further depressed the mother. But despite all the problems, Fred insisted that their life was wonderful and that all of New Jersey was jealous of this paradise on Earth. nine0003

In addition to financial problems, there were also troubles connected with the difficult character of the father. In the Midler house, someone was constantly sorting things out: stern Fred kept chastising his eldest daughter Judith for disobedience, and his mother, in a raised tone, tried to convince her husband that he was too cruel. While everyone was cursing, little Bette dreamed of freedom, peace and quiet. School could have been an outlet for the girl, but she felt uncomfortable there too. Bette was the only fair-skinned child in the class and felt like an outsider among the many Hawaiians, Samoans, Japanese and Filipinos. “The locals knew nothing about the Jews. When my father tried to get us out of Yom Kippur classes, the teachers protested: they thought that he invented this holiday, the actress recalled. “But it's better than if people knew who the Jews were. Then it would probably be really bad for us.” nine0003

Even in the first grade, Midler hated her appearance and religion: it seemed to her that her parents were to blame for everything bad that happened in her life. But when Bette went to high school, life began to improve. The girl went to dances, listened to rock and roll, gossiped with her friends and participated in school productions. She first appeared on stage as a child, which Ruth, who named her daughter after actress Bette Davis, was very happy about.

However, Bette did not tell her parents anything about her first triumph, winning the school song contest. She then sang the Christmas carol "Silent Night" and was well aware that the song she had chosen would hardly please her father. “We didn't put up a Christmas tree like our Christian neighbors did. We just watched their children decorate the tree, and envied that each of them must have prepared a gift. We didn’t have any of that,” recalls Bette. nine0003

Father always taught girls that only hard work and discipline will help them survive. These lessons did not go unnoticed for Bette: as a teenager, she went to work at a factory that produced canned pineapples. “I laid out the pineapple rings, but instead of fiddling with each, carefully separating the unusable bottom and top parts, I just cut off three good slices from the middle and put them in a jar. To hell with sorting,” says the actress. Even at the age of ten, Bette decided that she would be a “superstar in evening dresses,” so working at a cannery weighed on her. nine0003

After high school, Midler entered the University of Hawaii, but after only six months, she left and moved to New York. For a while, Bette worked as a saleswoman for gloves in a department store, dancing at night in bars, but, considering herself a born singer and comedian, she stubbornly went to all Broadway auditions. At the time, one of the most popular musicals on Broadway was Fiddler on the Roof, and Bette was eager to get on stage with all her might. After eight months of endless auditions, she finally got a place in the crowd. nine0003

Soon fortune smiled on the girl: the theater urgently needed an actress for the role of Zeitl, the eldest daughter of Tevye the milkman. Bette knew the production and easily passed the audition, despite the obstacles that the casting director tried to fix, who dreamed of seeing her friend on stage. Having acquired the role, the young star was in seventh heaven with happiness: she is only 22, and she already shines on Broadway! However, a couple of years later this victory was followed by a defeat that hit Midler more painfully than any professional failure. nine0003

In 1968, her older sister Judith, who had also fled Hawaii and lived in San Francisco, came to visit the actress on the day of her last performance in the musical Fiddler on the Roof. Nothing foreshadowed trouble, but suddenly, when Judith was walking through Manhattan, a car flew out of an underground garage at her. The woman's death was instantaneous. Bette felt guilty, because it was she who called her sister to visit and, albeit indirectly, caused her death. “She observed shiv-ah, the seven days of mourning, and when she returned to work, she tried to carry on as if nothing had happened,” said Bette's friend, actress Martha Heflin. - Bette was the only one who did not fall apart and supported the family morally. Considering how much she loved Judith, this is quite a feat." nine0003

The actress could not recover from the loss for a long time, but she understood that her own life goes on and something needs to be done so as not to perish from despondency and longing. While still working on Broadway, she performed in small clubs, where she was noticed by the owner of the gay sauna Continental Baths, Steve Ostrow. He invited the young actress to perform at his place and did not fail: thanks to Bette, who performed humorous songs and made obscene jokes about visitors, the "baths" became very popular. This work gave a lot to the actress herself: it was there that she came up with most of the outrageous characters, which later brought her great success. nine0003

But the real alter ego of the actress was Divine Miss M, a sharp-tongued woman in vulgar outfits who sang songs from the 1940s and 1950s. She was loved for the ease and ease with which she brought her jokes "below the belt" to the public. Midler did not take herself or the subject of conversation seriously and communicated with the public as if with old acquaintances, which was both shocking and admiring. In the early 70s, Bette struck up a friendship with Cher, who helped her record her debut album, Divine Miss M, which brought Bette her first Grammy. nine0003

In 1972, producer Aaron Russo became the manager of the star, who agreed to all performances, wanting to squeeze the maximum out of Bette. The appearance on the Johnny Carson show brought Midler a new wave of popularity, and from that moment everyone wanted to see her, so the star's schedule was busy. Bette and Aaron also had a personal relationship, and later the actress said that “very soon she began to feel like a cross between a jellyfish and a ghost,” since Rousseau was a despot not only at work, but also in everyday life. Even then, Midler thought about whether she should develop her own career herself, but she broke off all relations with Rousseau only at 1979 after the resounding success of the film "Rose", where she played the main role. The image of the singer, set off in all serious ways, earned her an Oscar nomination and a second Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack.

But before the actress had time to enjoy the new status of a Hollywood star, she was immediately lowered from heaven to earth. The 1982 film Jinxed!, directed by Don Siegel, failed miserably at the box office, and the actress herself was accused of "monstrous sugary overacting." Bette was defeated. She locked herself at home, didn't answer her calls, and cried for hours in bed. “I even thought that the title of the film was prophetic for me! My mother was afraid of everything in the world and raised me the same way. She, in turn, was taught this by parents who survived the Great Depression and two world wars. After this, you will begin to seriously fear even the “evil eye,” says Midler. Be that as it may, it was during this period that she released the children's book The Divine Child, which became a bestseller according to The New York Times. nine0003

The actress was brought out of a long depression by her future husband, member of The Kipper Kid duo Martin von Heiselberg. They first met at a party back in the 70s, but only met in person in 1984, a month before the wedding. “He called when I was in a terrible state and asked me out on a date. We saw each other, and after a couple of weeks we got married in Vegas, says the actress. “We were both in our thirties, we wanted to have a family, so by modern standards, everything happened unromanticly. Romance is an illusion, it can't last at all." Two years after the wedding, a daughter, Sophie, was born in a family of actors. nine0003

According to Bette, it was her husband who restored her faith in herself and influenced her career, saying that "the world should not be deprived of a great comedic actress." In 1985, Midler, along with film producer Bonnie Bruckheimer, created the production company All Girl Productions, and a little later signed a contract with Disney. Over the next couple of years, four films were released that brought Bette the title of "the funniest actress in the United States": "Penniless in Beverly Hills", "Ruthless People", "Indecent Luck" and "Big Business". nine0003

Everyone wanted more "funny Midler", but the actress herself had other plans - she switched to drama. And Bette's risk was justified: the pictures "Stella" and "Scenes in the Store" won people's love, and for her role in the film "For Our Boys" she received a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar as the best actress. In 1993, Midler decided to re-establish contact with a live audience and staged a major American city tour. Tickets sold out in a matter of days, partly due to the release of Hocus Pocus, which was not well received by critics but delighted audiences. nine0003

In the 2000s, Bette began to perceive filming and concerts as "a wheel in which one cannot help but spin." By that time, the star had released ten studio albums and had more than 20 film roles behind him. It was then, according to the actress, that she realized that the happiness associated with success and fame is fleeting. “The main thing in life is inner harmony: your relationship with Gd, the planet, family and friends, your vision of the world,” says Bette. “I had to go my own way, full of narcissism and pride, in order to understand this. ” nine0003

In those years, as the actress herself says, her career entered the “climacteric period”: from the roles of wives and mistresses, she moved on to the roles of mothers and grandmothers. In 2000, Bette appeared as the eccentric Mona Dearly in the film Drown Mona!, in 2012 she played the charismatic grandmother Diana Decker in the comedy Parental Mayhem. In 2017, she appeared in the dramatic comedy Freak Circus. At the same time, her return to Broadway took place: the actress played a major role in the production of "Hello, Dolly!", For which she received the Tony Award. nine0003

Today, Bette Midler builds her organization, the New York Recovery Project, which revitalizes the city's green spaces and cleans up trash from the streets. In the evenings, the actress prefers to sit in silence: she reads books in the winter garden and plays board games with her husband. But the life of an ordinary elderly lady is not for her: in 2016, Midler, who often goes to fashion shows and secular parties, became one of the three heroines of the Marc Jacobs spring-summer advertising campaign.

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