Elegant Manhattan Apartment of Late Oil Heiress Seeks $70 Million

Three years after she died of ovarian cancer at age 78, the longtime New York City residence of arts patron and “peerless gardener” Anne Hendricks Bass — ex-wife of billionaire Texas oilman Sid Bass — has popped up for sale. Tucked away in 960 Fifth Avenue, a Rosario Candela-designed prewar cooperative on the Upper East Side overlooking Central Park, the asking price is a substantial $70 million. The listing was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Purchased by the Basses four decades ago, in the early 1980s — and subsequently customized over four years to her tastes by fellow Indiana native and interior designer Mark Hampton — the 12th-floor unit features five bedrooms spread across 16 rooms of classically traditional living space adorned throughout with high ceilings, wide hallways and five wood-burning fireplaces. Numerous windows also provide picturesque views of the Westside skyline and Central Park South.

Highlights include a 36-foot-long living room displaying a grand piano, along with an ivory-hued dining room sporting a fireplace boasting a Georgian mantle and ceiling light installation designed to resemble a starry night sky. There’s also a bookshelf-clad library and grand-scale kitchen built for entertaining, complete with industrial-grade appliances and a butler’s pantry. A corner master suite is outfitted with a dressing room, bath, walk-in-closet and an office space, while another bedroom has been converted into a sitting room.

In addition to two staff rooms in the apartment, the new owner will have access to two more staff rooms on the third floor of the adjoining 3 East 77th Street building, plus two large storage rooms. Building amenities include a 24-hour doorman, dining room, an in-house chef, exercise room and a roof terrace; and the purchaser is required to pay a 2 percent transfer fee.

Known for helping to raise the profile of ballet in the United States, Bass was a champion of the George Balanchine-founded New York City Ballet and its school, where she served as a board member from 1980 to 2005. She also was an avid supporter of New York’s Botanical Garden and Museum of Modern Art, as well as the Public Library and its Jerome Robbins Dance Division, which is housed at Lincoln Center and holds the world’s largest dance history archive.

The Vassar graduate married Sid Bass, her college sweetheart and billionaire heir to a Texas oil fortune in 1965. The couple’s marriage ended in divorce in 1988, and Bass was left with a settlement estimated at $200 million. Her estate still maintains a 1,000-acre estate in Connecticut’s Litchfield County.

The listing is held by Alexa Lambert and Alison Black of Compass.