Barry Diller spends $11M for the NYC penthouse where JFK stayed before his inauguration

Media mogul Barry Diller pounced on one of Manhattan’s most storied addresses, snagging President John F. Kennedy’s onetime favorite penthouse for $11 million.  

Diller, 84, has lived at the Carlyle Hotel for 30 years. So when the crown jewel of the building hit the market — the very penthouse where John F. Kennedy practically ran the country between Washington trips — he wasn’t about to let it slip away. 

“I’ve lived happily at the Carlyle for over 30 years, and when the penthouse came up I bought it in 5 minutes, and I hope to live in it happily forever,” Diller told the Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the transaction.

Property records confirm an entity tied to the IAC chairman closed on the duplex co-op atop the legendary Upper East Side hotel. 

The unit is the same two-story perch where the 35th president held court so frequently during the 1950s and ’60s that New Yorkers simply started calling it the “New York White House.” 

And Kennedy was such a fixture that the hotel had a dedicated phone line installed just for him. 

Former owner, Karen Pritzker — film producer, Hyatt hotel heiress, and cousin of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker — sold her longtime home to Diller in the fast deal. She and her late husband, investor Michael Vlock, paid $12.5 million for the place back in 2007. She initially listed the residence at $12.99 million.

The Kennedy fingerprints on this apartment are literal. Before the 1961 inauguration, JFK and Jackie had the oriel bay window installed themselves, creating the cozy breakfast nook that still overlooks Central Park today, the listing notes. 

After Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Jackie brought Caroline and John Jr. to the Carlyle and stayed nearly 10 months — not in this particular suite, but close enough that the children used the lobby as their rainy-day playground while the world outside was still making sense of what had happened. 

Made up of two bedrooms and 2.5 baths, the unit boasts a corner living and dining room with floor-to-ceiling windows and views stretching across the park and reservoir. It also holds a second oversized living room and a sun-drenched solarium with a wet bar. 

Upstairs, a 23-foot terrace built for sunset dinners stands above the city’s noise. The primary bathroom is finished in onyx. The kitchen comes loaded with Sub-Zero, Miele and Gaggenau appliances. The staircase connecting the two floors is a sweeping Art Deco statement piece. 

The Carlyle itself needs little introduction to anyone who has spent time on the Upper East Side. Opened around 1930 on Madison Avenue, it has spent nearly a century being effortlessly chic.

Bemelmans Bar — where Ludwig Bemelmans painted the whimsical murals himself in exchange for a year’s rent and a tab — remains one of the great rooms in New York. 

Café Carlyle, the intimate cabaret tucked inside, has hosted Bobby Short, Eartha Kitt, and Woody Allen’s Monday night jazz sets for decades. Presidents, princes, rock stars, fashion designers — the Carlyle has housed them all. And perhaps why Diller, married to fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg, has called it home for 30 years. 

The co-op residences inside the hotel come with the full white-glove treatment: concierge staff, housekeeping, the Valmont Spa and the Yves Durif salon. 

Meanwhile, last year Diller paid $45 million for a waterfront slice of Miami Beach’s North Bay Road. His IAC media empire runs the Daily Beast and People. 

Listing agent Roberta Golubock of Sotheby’s International Realty did not respond to requests for comment.