Lasata

Lasata is an estate in East Hampton, New York, that was the childhood summer home of the future First Lady of the United States Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis until she was about 12.

Lasata in 2007

Description

The two-story, gray-stucco mansion (also known as the George Schurman house)^{[citation needed]} at 121 Further Lane was built in 1917 on 12 acres (4.9 ha) two blocks from the Atlantic Ocean and three blocks from the Maidstone Club.

Included on the grounds was a stable for 8 acres (3.2 ha), tack room, jumping ring and paddock, extensive vegetable gardens, a grape arbor and Maude Bouvier's "Italian garden," edged with boxwood and dotted with classical statues.^[1]

History

The house belonged to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's paternal grandparents John Vernou Bouvier Jr. (referred to as "the Major") and Maude Sergeant Bouvier. The Bouviers' first summer residence in East Hampton was a simple house called Wildmoor, on Apaquogue Road in Georgica, which the Major bought about 1910.^[2] In 1925 the Major's wife, Maude Sergeant (whose family line traces back to the Kent, England, origins of East Hampton)^[3] bought the house. In 1926 the Bouviers joined the Maidstone Club. The Major was to^{[clarification needed]} formally buy the house from his wife in 1935 after inheriting money from his uncle Michel Charles "M. C." Bouvier.

The Bouviers said "Lasata" was a Native American name for "place of peace."

Jackie's father John Vernou Bouvier III married Janet Norton Lee at St. Philomena's Catholic Church (later called Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church) in East Hampton on July 7, 1928. They stayed at the Major's family compound and also rented nearby. Jackie was born on July 28, 1929, at Southampton Hospital in Southampton, New York.

Jackie was to be an accomplished horse rider during her stays at Lasata and her favorite horse was Danceuse. The New York Times wrote in 1940 following a competition at Madison Square Garden:^[4]

Jacqueline Bouvier, an eleven-year-old equestrienne from East Hampton, Long Island, scored a double victory in the horsemanship competition. Miss Bouvier achieved a rare distinction. The occasions are few when a young rider wins both contests in the same show.

At age 10, Jackie was to write:^[5]

When I go down to the sandy shore

I can think of nothing I want more

Than to live by the booming blue sea

As the seagulls flutter around about me

I can run about when the tide is out

With the wind and the sea all about

And the seagulls are swirling and diving for fish

Oh-to live by the sea is my only wish

When her father died, she asked that daisies and bachelor's buttons in white wicker baskets be placed at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, to make it look "like Lasata in August."^[6] Jackie's father, grandfather, grandmother, great-grandfather, and great-grandmother are buried at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Cemetery in East Hampton, as is her maternal grandmother and various other relatives.

Jackie's mother, Janet, following the death of her second husband Hugh D. Auchincloss, married childhood friend Bingham Morris on October 29, 1979, and moved to Southampton. Morris's first wife was a bridesmaid at Jackie's parents' East Hampton wedding. Jackie's daughter Caroline Kennedy bought a house in Sagaponack, New York, in Southampton. Caroline and her husband, Edwin Schlossberg, sold the house in the summer of 2006.^[7]

Present ownership

The house is still privately owned and in 2006 it was offered for sale for $25 million. It was owned by former Coach design executive, Reed Krakoff, and his wife, Delphine.^[8] The property was subdivided into one empty 4-acre plot and another with seven acres and the house. Both plots sold in January 2018.^[9] for $24 million to Hollywood producer David Zander.^[10]

In August 2023, fashion designer and filmmaker Tom Ford bought the estate for $52 million.^[11][12]