Photo: Architizer
SWEDEN— Ice hotels aren't exactly novel, it seems like every country with a shred of land above the Arctic Circle is home to one these days. That said, Room 339 at the ICEHOTEL has been transformed into something extra special: a blinged-out, multi-faceted approximation of a diamond, designed by French artist Antoine Weygand and architect Roland Toupet. Better hurry up and visit though, it's all set to melt away come summer. [Architizer]
NATIONAL— As might be expected with $400M at stake, distant relatives have raised a legal challenge to the last will and testament of the late copper heiress Huguette Clark. At the heart of her estate are three incomparable residences, including the largest-ever Fifth Avenue spread in NYC and a Santa Barbara mansion thought to be worth $100M. [MSNBC]
NEW YORK CITY— The sale of most expensive apartment in New York history, Stanford Weill's $88M penthouse, has closed, with ownership officially passing to a trust in the name of Ekatarina Rybolovleva, a 22-year-old college student and daughter of a Russian fertilizer billionaire. According to the Wall Street Journal, the "sale generated close to $2.5 million in city and state taxes, and produced what brokers said was a record commission on a residential sale of about $3.5 million." [WSJ]
[Rendering via Snøhetta]