Howard Cosell’s former NY estate hits market for $2.2M

This writerly retreat is newly available following an extensive renovation. 

A 4.8-acre Pound Ridge, New York, property that the late sports reporter Howard Cosell once called home is seeking a new owner. The compound is listed for $2.29 million with Lynn Harmonay of North Country Sotheby’s International Realty. 

Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright disciple David Henken, 21 Old Snake Hill Road was in “a total state of ruin” when its current seller purchased it, promising the former owner he would restore it.

“I spent the last three years tirelessly restoring the main house and guest house, as well as improving the property and adding additional outbuildings,” the seller — Francis Merante, an interior designer and antique dealer — told The Post. 

The entire property is now in turnkey condition from its outdoor amenities — including a heated salt water pool, a pool house, a cabana, two wrought-iron gazebos, two covered porches, a deck and a custom-built pergola — to the four-bedroom, four-bathroom main house.

Built in 1952, the space still features many of its midcentury design details, including walls of glass and stone, floating staircases and both beamed and cathedral-style ceilings. It also boasts a custom-built wine cellar, a finished basement family room (formerly Cosell’s studio) with a built-in wet bar, the original 1952 dry bar and two stone fireplaces built of rock sourced from the property. The one-bedroom, one-bathroom guest house has its own kitchen, living space and a wall of stone.  

Fresh landscaping has also added more than 200 new bushes and trees (including three types of magnolias) to the estate, as well as rock walls and a grand entrance. The property is accessed via a Belgian block-lined driveway. 

“The sale includes several historical objects pertaining to former owner Howard Cosell collected by the current owner or inherited with the house,” Merante noted. Cosell, who is widely credited with coining the phrase “The Bronx is Burning,” passed away in 1995 at age 77.

The address is approximately an hour north of Manhattan, across the street from the Pound Ridge Golf Club and adjacent to 26-acre conservancy the Bye Preserve.