Huguette Clark facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Huguette Clark
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Huguette Clark around 1917
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| Born |
Huguette Marcelle Clark
June 9, 1906 Paris, France
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| Died | May 24, 2011 (aged 104) New York City, U.S.
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| Resting place | Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Spence School |
| Occupation |
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| Known for | Heiress to Clark copper fortune; recluse |
| Spouse(s) |
William MacDonald Gower
(m. 1928; div. 1930) |
| Parent(s) | William A. Clark Anna E. La Chapelle |
Huguette Marcelle Clark (born June 9, 1906 – died May 24, 2011) was an American painter, heiress, and generous giver to charities. She became famous later in life for being a recluse, which means she lived alone and avoided people. For over 20 years, she lived in hospitals while her many large homes stayed empty.
Huguette was the youngest daughter of William A. Clark, a wealthy senator and businessman from Montana. She spent her early years in Paris, France, before moving to New York City with her family. There, she went to the Spence School. After a short marriage ended in 1930, Clark returned to her home at 907 Fifth Avenue. This was a huge apartment that she made even bigger, taking up two floors. She also carefully looked after Bellosguardo, a large family estate in Santa Barbara, California. However, she never visited this property after the 1950s.
Clark lived most of her life away from the public eye. She spent her time painting, enjoying art, and collecting old items. She especially loved collecting toys and dolls. In 1952, she bought another property in New Canaan, Connecticut. After her mother passed away in 1963, Huguette became even more private and avoided people.
In 1991, she went to Doctors Hospital in Manhattan for skin treatment on her face. Even though she got better, Clark stayed in the hospital for the next two decades.
When she died at 104 years old in 2011, Clark left behind a fortune of over $300 million. Most of this money was given to charity after a legal disagreement with her distant relatives.
A reporter named Bill Dedman wrote a lot about her life and fortune. He co-wrote a book in 2013 called Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune. This book is now being made into a TV series by HBO.
Contents
Huguette Clark's Life Story
Early Life and Family (1906–1926)
Huguette Marcelle Clark was born on June 9, 1906, in Paris, France. She was the second daughter of William A. Clark (1839–1925) and his second wife, Anna E. Clark (1878–1963). Her father was a former U.S. Senator from Montana. He was a very successful businessman who made a huge fortune from copper mining in places like Butte, Montana and Jerome, Arizona. He also owned railroads and helped start Las Vegas.
Huguette's mother was a singer and musician. She met William in Butte. Huguette was raised Roman Catholic, like her mother. Her father was a Protestant.
Huguette had an older sister, Louise Amelia Andrée Clark (1902–1919). She also had five half-siblings from her father's first marriage.
Huguette spent her early childhood in France. Her family lived in an apartment in Paris. When she was five, they moved to New York City. She went to the Spence School in Manhattan. The family lived in a massive 121-room mansion at 962 Fifth Avenue. It was the biggest house in New York City at the time. After her father died in 1925, Huguette and her mother moved to a large apartment at 907 Fifth Avenue.
Homes and Hobbies (1927–1987)
In December 1927, Huguette Clark announced her engagement to William MacDonald Gower. He was a law student and a Princeton University graduate. They married on August 18, 1928, at Bellosguardo. This was her family's large 23-acre estate in Santa Barbara, California.
That same year, Clark gave $50,000 to help build an artificial freshwater lake. She asked that it be named the Andree Clark Bird Refuge, after her sister who had passed away. Huguette and William separated in 1929 and divorced in 1930.
After her divorce, Clark moved back to the apartment at 907 Fifth Avenue. She made the apartment much larger. It grew to 42 rooms, taking up an entire floor and half of another. It had a huge library and living rooms. An expert said you could see Central Park from far away inside her apartment!
Clark and her mother continued to take care of Bellosguardo. During the Great Depression, they even had the original house torn down and rebuilt. This was done "just to give people jobs." Huguette visited Bellosguardo often during this time. She became friends with Barbara Dorn, whose father worked at the estate. Huguette was shy and preferred to spend time quietly.
Huguette Clark was also a musician and a painter. In 1929, she showed seven of her paintings at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. She loved art and collected many things. She especially enjoyed collecting antique toys and dolls. She had very few friends and was "skittish around strangers." She rarely left her home. She sometimes went to fashion shows, but only to get ideas for her dolls' clothes.
In 1952, she bought a 52-acre estate in New Canaan, Connecticut, called Le Beau Chateau. After her mother died in 1963, Huguette became even more private. She became the only owner of Bellosguardo, but she had not visited it since the 1950s. Even so, the estate was kept in perfect condition, costing $40,000 each month.
Hospital Stay and Later Life (1988–2009)
As Huguette Clark got older, she became very private. She preferred to speak French so others wouldn't understand her conversations. By 1991, she was very thin and had skin problems on her face. On March 26, she went to Doctors Hospital for treatment. She had successful surgery to remove the skin growths and fix her face.
After her treatment, Clark chose to stay in the hospital for the rest of her life. She later moved to Beth Israel Medical Center when the hospitals merged. Her doctor encouraged her to go home, but Clark was "perfectly happy" staying there. She had private nurses and medical staff caring for her all day. Her room overlooked Central Park. She paid $829 every day to stay in the hospital. Hospital staff remembered her interesting hobbies. She would often talk about cartoons like The Smurfs and The Flintstones.
During her nearly 20-year stay, Clark became very close with her private nurse, Hadassah Peri. Over the years, Clark gave Peri and her family over $30 million in gifts. These included properties, cars, money for medical bills, and college tuition. In 2006, a doctor visited Clark and said she was "alert and cheerful" and "perfectly content."
Even though Clark had over $300 million, she didn't always have a lot of cash on hand. She would sell properties to give large gifts to friends and even strangers. She gave $10 million to her best friend and $25,000 to hospital workers who fixed her TV.
Final Years and Public Attention (2010–2011)
In February 2010, Huguette Clark became the subject of news reports by Bill Dedman. He found that her homes had been empty for decades. Her large estates in Santa Barbara and New Canaan were empty but still carefully looked after by staff. Dedman discovered she was living in a New York City hospital. He also found that some of her personal items had been quietly sold. These items included a rare 1709 violin by Antonio Stradivari and an 1882 painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
In August 2010, questions arose about how her money was being managed by her accountant and attorney. A former worker for her attorney said that he received many gifts from Clark. In September 2010, a judge turned down a request from some distant relatives to appoint an independent guardian for Clark.
Huguette Clark's Death
Huguette Clark died on May 24, 2011, at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. This was just two weeks before her 105th birthday. She had been moved to a special care unit a month earlier. Her nurse, Hadassah Peri, was with her when she passed away. Huguette had said she didn't want a funeral, but a Catholic priest was called to give her last rites.
Clark had been living in the hospital under different names. Her room was guarded, and she had private nurses. An official review into how her money was handled was still happening when she died.
She was buried on May 26, 2011, in her family's tomb at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City. This happened before the cemetery opened to the public. Her attorney said she had asked for no funeral service.
After Her Death
Settling Her Estate
Huguette Clark's last will was filed on June 22, 2011. This will was made in 2005. It said that 75% of her fortune, about $300 million, should go to charity. Her longtime nurse, Hadassah Peri, was to receive about $30 million. Her goddaughter, Wanda Styka, would get about $12 million. A new foundation for her Santa Barbara estate, the Bellosguardo Foundation, would receive $8 million. Other employees would get smaller amounts. Beth Israel Hospital, where she lived, received $1 million. Her attorney and accountant would each get $500,000.
A painting by Claude Monet, part of his Water Lilies series, was given to the Corcoran Museum of Art. The will described Clark as someone who "possessed a large heart as well as a deep devotion to the arts."
In October 2011, it was reported that an earlier will existed. This earlier will, signed six weeks before the second one, left everything to her family. Nineteen distant relatives, many of whom had never met her, challenged the second will. They said she had unusual interests, like her love for dolls and the Smurfs, and that she gave money away easily. They also suggested that her nurse, attorney, and accountant had taken advantage of her. No one was charged with a crime, but these questions led to an official review.
On September 24, 2013, Clark's will was finally settled. Most of the distant relatives received a total of $34.5 million. Hadassah Peri received nothing from the will. She also agreed to return $5 million of the gifts she had received earlier. The largest part of the remaining money went to support the arts. This included giving her Santa Barbara estate to the new Bellosguardo Foundation.
Missing Artwork
In March 2012, news came out that a valuable pastel drawing by Edgar Degas was missing from Huguette Clark's Fifth Avenue apartment. This happened shortly after she moved to the hospital in the early 1990s. The drawing was sold to a gallery and later bought by art collector Henry W. Bloch in 1993. The gallery said they got the artwork from a "European gentleman" who claimed he had inherited it.
It wasn't until 2005 that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) told Bloch they were looking into the painting. In 2007, they told him it had been reported missing from Clark.
In 2008, Clark agreed to donate the pastel, valued at $10 million, to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Bloch was a major supporter of this museum. Clark asked that the pastel be lent to the Corcoran Museum of Art three times in 25 years. She also asked that it be listed as from an anonymous donor. The museum kept this information private.
Selling Homes and Items
After her death, 17 items from Huguette Clark's jewelry collection were sold at Christie's auction house on April 17, 2012. Buyers paid over $20 million for these items. This included a rare 9-carat pink diamond that sold for over $15.7 million. Most of Clark's art and old items were put up for auction at Christie's in June 2014.
In July 2012, one of Clark's three apartments at 907 Fifth Avenue sold for $25.5 million. This was more than its asking price. The Prime Minister of Qatar tried to buy both of Clark's apartments on the eighth floor to combine them. However, the building's board did not allow it.
In November 2012, another apartment on the eighth floor sold for $22.5 million. The third apartment on that floor sold in October 2013 for $6.8 million. In total, her three apartments sold for $54.8 million.
In April 2014, Clark's large French-style home in New Canaan, Connecticut, called "Le Beau Chateau," was sold. It had been empty for over 60 years. Fashion designer Reed Krakoff and his wife bought the home for $14.3 million.
See also
- Bellosguardo Foundation
- Andree Clark Bird Refuge
- Empty Mansions
