Apparently pink crown moldings were in style in 1929.

As chief of executive officer of Grameen America, a micro-lender founded by Nobel Peace Price winner Muhammad Yunus, and a partner at prepaid debit card company NetSpend, Stephen Vogel knows a thing or two about the "unbanked"—the 60 million Americans without bank accounts. Thankfully, Mr. Vogel and his wife, Laurie, are not among them: the couple dropped $6.6 million on a unit at the Beresford at 211 Central Park West, according to city records.

The eighth floor unit, which the Vogels bought from Donald and Leila McCollum, was poised to enter the sparsely-populated ranks of New York City co-ops to be foreclosed on, according to The Real Deal. Fortunately, the couple's attorney finally convinced lender JPMorgan Chase to let them save face by selling it themselves and paying back the $1 million lien.

"They gave us some time to conclude the deal," broker Chandru Ramnani of RSNY told The Real Deal, but "the way [the bank] was dealing with this was totally out of line."

The Classic Seven sold significantly under the asking price—at one point the sellers wanted $7.85 million. The discount may have had something to do with the pressure that JPMorgan Chase was likely exerting on Mr. and Ms. McCollum. Or it could have to do with the fact that the apartment is, according to Mr. Ramnani's listing description, in its "original condition," dating back to the Beresford's erection in 1929, when pink crown moldings and double maid's rooms were considered the cat's pajamas.

Ms. McCollum, née Benitez, was once a television star in the Philippines, where she met her husband. Mr. McCollum, for his part, was "a US Army photographer," reported the Philippine Daily Inquirer, "who was with Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Carlos P. Romulo during the Leyte landing at the end of World War II."

"I miss Manila," Ms. McCollum told the Inquirer. "But when I get homesick, I go to Queens where you can get all the Filipino food you want. Even kalamansi or sitaw!"

We just hope that Ms. McCollum won't be homesick for the Beresford. The luxury co-op lifestyle might be harder to replicate outside of the Upper West Side's hallowed halls.

Holbrooke and Marton.

Kati Marton had already moved on from the spacious four-bedroom, four-bath co-op that she and the late diplomat Richard Holbrooke once shared at the Beresford. Now she's finally sold it, city records show, for the bargain price of $11 million.

But the famed journalist was clearly eager to make a deal. After listing the eighth-floor apartment at 211 Central Park West for $14.7 million in August of 2011, she reduced the price to $13.5 million only a month later, whipping through a series of sharp price cuts in the following months.

Their Beresford home.

In June, Ms. Marton bought a more modest co-op at 33 Riverside Drive and apparently decided it was really time to let go of the past, dropping the price to $11.3 million. She did share the home with not one, but two former husbands. She bought the eight-floor spread in the early 1990s with Peter Jennings, her second husband, and held onto it after their divorce.

The listing, held by Stribling broker Beatrice Ducrot, includes all the bells and whistles of a Central Park West listing, with Park views from the living room, library and master bedroom. Wood panels, carved doors and wood-burning fireplaces abound. It is, without a doubt, "well suited to entertaining and gracious living," as the listing claims. When Holbrooke was alive, the couple held a dinner toasting Hilary Clinton in the apartment every December with guests like Matt Damon, Glenn Close and Robert de Niro.

Which is good news for the buyers—Janet and Marvin Rosen. Mr. Rosen, a lawyer, was the finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1995 to 1997 and presumably continues to hobnob with some political personages.

The apartment won't entirely the same as it was when the power couple lived there, of course. Minus the stardust, it's missing an add-on office. A little over a year ago Ms. Marton sold the adjoining one-bedroom that Holbrooke had used as an office for $1.8 million. It sounded like the perfect place to get a remaining hour of important government work done while the caterers were busy prepping dinner next door.

But not to worry, with a total of four bedrooms and ample closet space, the Rosens can certainly find a place to put their desks.

kvelsey@observer.com

The Browns at home.

When Helen Gurley Brown died this Monday, she left behind a legacy of sexual liberation, generations of bereaved Cosmopolitan fans and a four-floor penthouse in one of the Beresford's Southwest towers.

The fate of the tower apartment, which Brown and husband David Brown bought in the 1970s from director Mike Nichols, remains unknown. But its high place in Brown's affections was no secret—it ranked right up there with sex, ambition and her husband. When asked by Vanity Fair where she would most like to live, Brown replied:

"Exactly where I am living—the Beresford Apartments, on Central Park West and 81st Street. We have the top four floors of a tower apartment. I'm slightly prejudiced, but I think it's the best apartment in New York."

Don't change a thing: Brown's dining room is perfect. (UsaToday)

Brown's apartment was said to be both magnificent, with a huge, tower-top terrace overlooking Central Park, and magnificently groovy, with pumpkin shag carpeting in the living room and zebra-print wallpaper.

It may well come on the market given that Brown died without any immediate relatives who might take up residence for sentimental reasons: her husband, a film producer responsible for such blockbuster delights as Jaws, died in 2010 and the couple had no children. Brown's sister also died before the nonagenarian.

If it did, it would be the first of 211 Central Park West's quadruplexes to come on the market since July 2004, according to data provided by Donna Olshan of Olshan Realty. That 14-room Southwest-facing tower apartment, #21A, sold for $15.3 million. Of course, 2004 seems a distant epoch when it comes to real estate prices.  The most salient point of comparison is more likely the $29.5 million that Bob Weinstein has been asking for his 14-room Beresford penthouse (not in the tower) since he listed it in 2009. (The listing for the apartment, which was available until just a few weeks ago, has been pulled, suggesting that it may have been snatched up in the luxury buying craze sweeping the city). Another penthouse apartment, a three-bedroom with a total of 90-feet fronting Central Park (also not in the tower), was listed for $22 million, but appears to be off the market as well now.

But nothing could be quite like the mouseburger's apartment—a swinging pad for a small-town girl who clawed her way to a lofty perch with a set of perfectly-manicured nails. A USA Today reporter who toured the home in 2007 found that hardly anything had changed since the Browns had the place decorated in the 1970s. Also, that it was awesome: she found a leopard-print rug in the office (over the parquet), bubblegum shag carpeting in the master bedroom, a dining room with lacquer red walls and cushy banquettes. Ficus trees grew on the terrace. The famous clotheshorse had a dressing room lined with pink-painted closets, including "one devoted entirely to racks of black slingbacks and pumps," as well as the maid's room. She also confessed to overtaking half her husband's closet downstairs.

The couple moved to the Beresford from a chic Park Avenue pad. Brown told The USA Today reporter that "it was supposed to be sort of tacky over here."

kvelsey@observer.com