President John F. Kennedy’s ‘Winter White House’ on Palm Beach just sold to Jane Goldman, daughter of late New York real estate investor Sol Goldman, for a whopping $31 million.
The 11-bedroom oceanfront mansion was designed by renowned architect Addison Mizner in the 1920s. Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. paid $120,000 for the home in 1933.
President and Mrs. Kennedy took frequent trips to the estate during his presidency and he spent his last weekend there before his assassination in 1963.
The estate was in the Kennedy family’s possession until 1995, when the home and its furnishings were sold to merchant banker John K. Castle for $4.9 million.
President and Mrs. Kennedy had strong ties here in Newport.
On September 12, 1953 Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier at St. Mary’s Church. Senator and Mrs. Kennedy were prominent members of the Newport Society crowd and were frequently seen at Bailey’s Beach, sailing on Narragansett Bay and attending various balls and parties on Bellevue Avenue.
President Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy used Hammersmith Farm as their ‘Summer White House’ from 1961 until his assassination in 1963.