Discover the secret garden that may have inspired the Met Gala

The Met Gala, one of the most famous fashion events of the year, chaired by the editor-in-chief of Vogue Anna Wintourtakes place Monday night — and if you’re curious about what might have inspired its theme, “Garden of Time,” this list has the answer.

Chief curator of the Met and good friend of Wintour Andrew Bolton could have used his own timeless garden as his muse: a secret half-acre of verdant serenity, isolated from the surrounding bustling streets of Manhattan, in Sutton Square on the Upper East Side.

The special garden is only accessible to 14 lucky surrounding townhouses. Bolton and his partner, designer Thomas Brown, purchased one of these homes in 2019 for $13 million. But if you feel like being neighbors, another one of these rare gems is currently on sale for $24,999,000.

The listing boasts: “6 Sutton Square is the sensational luxury townhouse with a private ‘Garden of Time’ which is the theme of the 2024 Met’s Gala. This home features a beautiful large timeless private garden which is shared only with the thirteen other townhouses. This one-of-a-kind private amenity is a 12,000 square foot garden with 120 feet of river frontage offering inspiring eastern and bridge views. The Met Museum’s new costume exhibition will be organized around three main zones: Earth, Sea and Sky. 6 Sutton Square offers views of land, sea and sky. Something other Manhattan townhouses can’t offer.

The special garden is accessible only through private gates at the rear of each townhouse, and its private oasis can be admired from the townhouse balconies.

“It’s a slice of life that doesn’t exist much in New York anymore,” says Douglas Bendt of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New York Properties who shares the listing with his wife, Sonya. “Whoever lives here will have to appreciate the solitude. This is very quiet.”

“Everyone says, ‘Am I in Manhattan?’ I feel like I’m not there,’” adds Sonia. “As soon as you’re in the garden, you feel like you’re not in the city.”

The garden has a beautiful swing, which has been there for at least 33 years, explains the seller of the house: Yue Sai Kahn, known as the “Oprah of China”. She even organized a wedding in this garden.

Douglas notes that the half-acre secret garden is surrounded not only by the East River, but also by dead-end streets, so there is no foot traffic to interrupt your time in the garden private, perhaps enjoying a glass of wine while watching the boats go down. River. The townhomes are all zoned for residential purposes, so you won’t have to worry about visitors from the surrounding commercial offices.

This alone makes this garden a rarity in the city, where most “secret gardens” either have become public or, like the famous Gramercy Park, have hundreds of residents with keys.

The garden has rules: groups of more than 30 must obtain permission from the homeowners’ association, although small groups are permitted four times a year. And this secret garden doesn’t come cheap. Not only do you have to shell out millions for the townhouse, but also the $21,000 annual fee to cover garden maintenance.

The 8,500-square-foot brick home, with seven bedrooms and six bathrooms, offers bucolic garden views from each of its six 33-foot-wide levels.

Former owners of the so-called “original billionaire row” include Anne Vanderbilt, J.P. Morganthe daughter of Anne Morgane, Aristotle Onassisand former chairman of Goldman Sachs John Whitehead.