Russian oligarch has finally thrown in the taʊəl, and 18 Simmons Lane is pending — as is the wrecker's ball

Valery Mikhailovich Kogen is about to finally unload his property at 18 Simmons Lane, currently priced at $12.995 million and comprising 7-acres with a derelict 19,000 sq. ft, 1924 mansion built by Zalmon Simmons of mattress fame and a sale is pending. Kagen paid $18.5 million for the place in 2005, but he can probably take the loss and never notice it.

New York Magazine published an amusing recounting of the oligarch’s fierce battle in 2008-2009 to build a 54,000 sq.ft. Winter Palace; it can be found here. If you weren’t around then, you missed a fun food fight between the rich and the uber-rich.

Wikipedia has a biography Zalmon Gilbert Simmons II who built this edifice on an original estate of 164-acres. Excerpt:

Life in Greenwich, Connecticut

In 1923 Zalmon and Francis moved their family to an "exquisite" manor in Greenwich, Connecticut. The Simmons estate was said to be the equivalent of many of the châteaux in France and stately homes in Europe. The interior was designed by the world-renowned Elsie de Wolfe.

"It featured hand-painted chinoiserie wallpaper, black marble floors with inlaid copper, and a study paneled with pine that had been stripped from a venerable mansion in London. The main house had six maid's rooms. Outbuildings included a stable for horses, two greenhouses, a six-car garage, and a guest-house with its own courtyard; as well, Simmons built a pair of two-family cottages to house the butler, the chauffeur, the head gardener, and the estate superintendent. For their two sons, Zalmon junior and Grant, Zalmon and Francis built two more houses on the estate.

…. In 1932 Z.G. II became Chairman of the Board and his oldest son Grant took over as president of The Simmons Company. This gave "the Chief" an opportunity to enjoy retirement at his 164-acre estate in Greenwich, Connecticut. In the years before his death Z.G. II had become a passionate horticulturist. In the season before his death he planted on 3,000,000 [!] iris bulbs throughout the gardens of the massive property.