Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

14 hours ago

Will Valadao Spoil Trump’s Plan for July 4th ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Signing?

16 hours ago

Shaver Lake and Reedley 4th of July Shows Are Wednesday. Who Else Is Celebrating?

19 hours ago

Elon Musk Says Senate Bill Would Destroy Jobs and Harm US

19 hours ago

Israel Strikes Pound Gaza, Killing 60, Ahead of US Talks on Ceasefire

20 hours ago

Trump’s Administration Finds Harvard Violated Students’ Civil Rights, WSJ Reports

21 hours ago

How Did the Supreme Court Rule? Here’s a Look at the Big Cases

3 days ago
Real Estate Mogul Taunts Ex-Wife With 42-Foot Photo of New One
Bill McEwen updated website photo 2024
By Bill McEwen, News Director
Published 6 years ago on
March 11, 2019

Share

By James Barron

NEW YORK — They measure 24 feet wide and 42 feet high, which makes them taller than a telephone pole but 3 feet shorter than the letters in the Hollywood sign.

The two photographs, according to the recently divorced and newly remarried man who had them installed last week on one of the tallest residential buildings in the Western Hemisphere, are “a proclamation of love.”

“He could have done something much better, something that would attract people’s attention.” — Bronx resident Allen Gross 

That man is real estate developer Harry Macklowe, who is pictured in one of the photographs and was married for the second time Thursday after a contentious 14-week divorce trial. His new wife, the woman in the other photograph, is Patricia Landeau, president of the French Friends of the Israel Museum. Macklowe built the building where the images appear, 432 Park Ave.

Bought Photos for $2,000

Macklowe, 81, said Saturday that he had bid $2,000 at a charity auction for photographs by Studio Harcourt in Paris. He loved the results — “My wife looks gorgeous, and I love the picture of me,” he said Saturday — and began thinking about ways to show them off.

“Since I wasn’t getting married during the summer in the Hamptons,” he said, “I wasn’t able to hire an airplane with a banner to go up and down the shoreline. I thought: ‘I own a building. Why don’t I just hang a banner from my own building?’”

So he did. A sign company printed the images on polyester mesh and placed them on the Park Avenue Cube, a white-glass structure that is part of 432 Park Ave. and is to be occupied by the auction house Phillips. The images look out from the northwest corner of Park Avenue and East 56th Street.

It did not take long for the tabloids to notice. “Macklowe puts new wife’s pic on Park Ave. bldg. where ex nixed apt,” The New York Post wrote.

“Ex” was a reference to Macklowe’s first wife, Linda. They were married for more than 50 years before a public breakup in 2016 that preceded the divorce trial.

It ended in December when Justice Laura Drager of state Supreme Court in Manhattan ordered their $2 billion fortune divided. That means selling what the judge called “an internationally renowned collection” of modern art they had amassed over the years. It includes works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Alberto Giacometti, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.

Linda Macklowe, an honorary trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a vice president and trustee of the Guggenheim Museum, was not required to go through with the planned purchase of an apartment in the building that is now adorned by the images of Harry Macklowe and his new wife.

First Wife Lives in $72 Million Plaza Hotel Apartment

The first wife had had a contract to buy the apartment on the 78th floor of 432 Park Ave., but another court had permitted her to exit the deal, according to the judge in the divorce settlement. The divorce court awarded Linda Macklowe the couple’s condominium in the Plaza Hotel — created by joining seven apartments they bought in 2007 and valued by the court at $72 million — but gave Harry Macklowe a $36 million credit on it.

Macklowe said Saturday that some of his male friends had told him their wives now wanted the big-picture treatment. He said some of his female friends had said the same thing. “I got an email from a neighbor across the street who said, ‘I want my husband to do this for me for Valentine’s Day,’” he said.

If the photographs are like an art installation, the reviews from passers-by on Park Avenue were mixed.

“If you have the money and you want to do it, go ahead,” said Halle Mae Nottage, a college student from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. “But it’s devastating to see people spend such money on such shallow things when there are bigger and more pressing issues on which money can be spent.”

Teya Goakey, a graphic design student from Port Angeles, Washington, said she would not want her portrait on the side of a building. “It’s weird to see,” she said, “and I feel like if I had that kind of money, I wouldn’t need the whole of New York City see my and my other half’s face on the side of a building. That’s a private thing. I wouldn’t need the whole city to know of my wedding.”

How Long Will Photos Stay Up?

Allen Gross of the Bronx was unimpressed. “He could have done something much better,” he said, “something that would attract people’s attention.”

“That’s not going to do it,” he said, looking up at the two photographs and apparently concluding that they were too discreet.

But Eric Torres, who delivers groceries for FreshDirect, said he would do the same thing if he had the money — and a wife.

“Is it pointless?” he asked. “It’s 50-50 on that one. The simple fact is, if the marriage doesn’t work out, he just wasted a lot of money.”

The newlyweds’ love may be everlasting, but the photographs will not be. Macklowe said he had not decided how long the images would adorn the building.

© Copyright The New York Times News Service, 2019

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Clovis Police Seek Public’s Help in Finding Missing 82-Year-Old Woman

DON'T MISS

Fresno Woman Killed in Head-On Collision, CHP Investigating

DON'T MISS

Musk Vows to Punish Lawmakers Who Back Trump’s Spending Bill

DON'T MISS

Fresno Man Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years for $4.2 Million Tech Startup Fraud

DON'T MISS

Bryan Kohberger Pleads Guilty in Murders of Four Idaho Students, ABC News Reports

DON'T MISS

Wildfire Near Lake Madera Country Estates Burns 12 Acres, Now 100% Contained

DON'T MISS

Fresno County CHP Arrest Two in Interstate 5 Drug, Gun, and Counterfeit Money Bust

DON'T MISS

California Seizes Over 600,000 Pounds of Illegal Fireworks. Newsom Calls for Safe Celebrations

DON'T MISS

Where Trade Talks Stand With Major US Partners Ahead of Tariffs-Hike Deadline

DON'T MISS

Labor Icon Huerta Breaks Ground on Fresno Park Bearing Her Name

UP NEXT

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

UP NEXT

US Supreme Court Lets Parents Take Kids Out of Classes With LGBT Storybooks

UP NEXT

Bill Moyers, Broadcaster and LBJ’s White House Press Secretary, Dies at 91

UP NEXT

Tesla Executive, Elon Musk Confidant Leaves EV Maker, Bloomberg News Reports

UP NEXT

How a Birthday Boat Ride on Lake Tahoe Turned Tragic

UP NEXT

Cuomo Concedes to Mamdani in New York City Democratic Mayoral Contest

UP NEXT

Mamdani Holds Lead Over Cuomo in Democratic Primary for NYC Mayor

UP NEXT

Clovis Man Sentenced to 8 Years in Federal Prison in Deadly Fentanyl Case

UP NEXT

Victims Identified as Death Toll Climbs to 8 in Lake Tahoe Boating Tragedy

UP NEXT

Florida to Build ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Detention Center for Migrants in Everglades

Bill McEwen,
News Director
Bill McEwen is news director and columnist for GV Wire. He joined GV Wire in August 2017 after 37 years at The Fresno Bee. With The Bee, he served as Opinion Editor, City Hall reporter, Metro columnist, sports columnist and sports editor through the years. His work has been frequently honored by the California Newspapers Publishers Association, including authoring first-place editorials in 2015 and 2016. Bill and his wife, Karen, are proud parents of two adult sons, and they have two grandsons. You can contact Bill at 559-492-4031 or at Send an Email

Fresno Man Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years for $4.2 Million Tech Startup Fraud

13 hours ago

Bryan Kohberger Pleads Guilty in Murders of Four Idaho Students, ABC News Reports

13 hours ago

Wildfire Near Lake Madera Country Estates Burns 12 Acres, Now 100% Contained

13 hours ago

Fresno County CHP Arrest Two in Interstate 5 Drug, Gun, and Counterfeit Money Bust

13 hours ago

California Seizes Over 600,000 Pounds of Illegal Fireworks. Newsom Calls for Safe Celebrations

13 hours ago

Where Trade Talks Stand With Major US Partners Ahead of Tariffs-Hike Deadline

14 hours ago

Labor Icon Huerta Breaks Ground on Fresno Park Bearing Her Name

14 hours ago

DOJ Announces Arrest, Indictments in North Korean IT Worker Scheme

14 hours ago

Fresno Man Arrested in Clovis for Sex-Related Crimes Against Minor

14 hours ago

Dyer’s Lobbying Works. Fresno Gets $100M for Downtown From State

14 hours ago

Clovis Police Seek Public’s Help in Finding Missing 82-Year-Old Woman

The Clovis Police Department is asking for the public’s help in locating an at-risk missing adult last seen on Thursday. Pathmani Goonawarde...

11 hours ago

Clovis Police are searching for Pathmani Goonawardena, 82, who went missing nearly three weeks ago and was last seen driving a white Volvo near Copper and Auberry, possibly en route to Coarsegold. (CHP)
11 hours ago

Clovis Police Seek Public’s Help in Finding Missing 82-Year-Old Woman

fresno
12 hours ago

Fresno Woman Killed in Head-On Collision, CHP Investigating

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025. (Reuters File)
13 hours ago

Musk Vows to Punish Lawmakers Who Back Trump’s Spending Bill

13 hours ago

Fresno Man Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years for $4.2 Million Tech Startup Fraud

Bryan Koberger, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students, listens during a hearing to overturn his grand jury indictment in Moscow, Idaho, U.S., October 26, 2023. (Reuters File)
13 hours ago

Bryan Kohberger Pleads Guilty in Murders of Four Idaho Students, ABC News Reports

The Blanca Fire, burning 12 acres northwest of Lake Madera Country Estates in Madera County, remains active with 0% containment and no reported injuries or structural damage as the cause is under investigation as of Monday, June 30, 2025. (CalFire)
13 hours ago

Wildfire Near Lake Madera Country Estates Burns 12 Acres, Now 100% Contained

Fresno County CHP arrested two on Interstate 5 after finding about one kilogram of suspected cocaine, a loaded ghost gun, and counterfeit money during a vehicle search on Sunday, June 29, 2025. (CHP)
13 hours ago

Fresno County CHP Arrest Two in Interstate 5 Drug, Gun, and Counterfeit Money Bust

Gov. Newsom warns Californians to celebrate the Fourth of July safely, emphasizing zero tolerance for illegal fireworks which have surged to over 600,000 pounds seized this year. (Shutterstock)
13 hours ago

California Seizes Over 600,000 Pounds of Illegal Fireworks. Newsom Calls for Safe Celebrations

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend