Supported by
A Grand Estate Is for Sale for the First Time in Decades
In Greenwich, Conn., Edwin John Beinecke, a businessman and philanthropist, built a seven-bedroom mansion and sprawling grounds that have stayed in his family for four generations.
A 66-acre estate in Greenwich, Conn. — owned by the same family for four generations — is on sale for the first time after more than 80 years. The asking price is $35 million.
Edwin John Beinecke, best known for his tenure with the Sperry & Hutchinson Company, built the seven-bedroom mansion in 1939, tapping the talents of Yasuo Matsui, the architect who helped design 40 Wall Street and the Starrett-Lehigh Building in Manhattan, according to the family.
Though the mansion is the showpiece of the estate, the sprawling property also has a caretaker’s cottage and a working farm with a barn, two greenhouses, four chicken coops and about 25 apple trees. For recreation, there’s a tennis court and swimming pool.
Mr. Beinecke was the director of 18 companies in his lifetime and led the growth of Sperry & Hutchinson, which created one of the first retail reward programs. Consumers would collect green stamps, most often from gas stations and supermarkets, and redeem them for products from the S & H catalog. Mr. Beinecke, his two brothers and their families created the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University, one of the largest libraries dedicated to rare books and manuscripts.
He died in 1970, and Barbara Robinson, the widow of his grandson, is the current owner. Mrs. Robinson, whose children grew up there, said she was ready to downsize.
Advertisement