Iconic Migdale Castle goes for $8 million at auction

MILLBROOK — Migdale, the Tudor estate built by Andrew Carnegie’s daughter in 1927, was sold on Thursday, May 30 at Sotheby’s Concierge Auction in London.

One of the Hudson Valley’s most iconic properties, the expansive, renovated stone estate of four stories, 34,000 square feet, and 29 rooms, achieved a sale price of $8.96 million in cooperation with co-listing agent Heather Croner of Heather Croner Real Estate Sotheby’s International Realty.

Located at 3872-3874 Route 44, the property was purchased by the art dealer and horse breeder Guy Wildenstein in 2020 for $5,290,000 and then underwent an extensive four-year renovation that was rumored to cost $20,000,000.

The estate on 68 acres includes twelve fireplaces, ten bedrooms, 17 bathrooms, an indoor pool, a 5,000-bottle wine cellar, a tennis court and a billiard room. There’s also a 5,000 square foot gate house and an additional 10,000 square foot staff house with 6 guest apartments.

The identity of the purchaser has not been revealed nor whether the buyer will exercise the first right to purchase the additional adjoining 129 acres with walking trails, orchards and fields.

Previous to the London auction New York restaurateur Will Guidara, perhaps inspired by the success of estates turned into resorts like Blantyre in Lenox, Massachusetts, was purported to have a $20,000,000 deal to purchase the property. The sale was contingent on Town of Washington approval of a zoning change that would permit “a world-class getaway” luxury resort called Second Mountain with a hotel, spa treatments, two restaurants, cottages and glamping.

Local residents, quickly mobilized to oppose the project, and Guidara withdrew his application.