Crisis shakes foundations of billionaires' row

The financial crisis forged in the American housing market may have spread to every corner of the planet, but there is a single address in New York where the credit crunch, the stock market collapse, the implosion of Wall Street and even the Bernard Madoff affair are being felt more than any other place on earth.

The lavish apartments of 740 Park Avenue are home to 30 of America's wealthiest and most influential families. At least they were until the historic confluence of financial disasters struck, lopping billions of dollars off their combined net worth. Now the formerly untouchable denizens of this famous apartment building look like they could lose it all.

From the penthouse to the ground floor, there is hardly a household in "740", as the building is known across New York, not reeling from the impact of America's financial earthquake.

On the top three floors, in penthouse 15b, Stephen Schwarzman, the chief executive of private equity firm the Blackstone Group, lives with his wife Christine. The owner of 15b holds a special place in New York society: John D. Rockefeller lived in it until his death in 1960, when it was sold to Saul Steinberg, the billionaire former owner of Reliance Insurance.

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Posted: 28 Jan 2009

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