Penderyn, an opulent Georgian-style estate on the Wye River will be auctioned on July 19 to the highest bidder, with no reserve.
Originally priced at $14.9 million, the 22,500 square foot home, built from handmade bricks, sits on a private 18-acre peninsula surrounded by a mile of waterfront, and includes a 157-foot Bailey dock with 11 boat slips. The interior has 8 bedrooms and 12 baths, 11 fireplaces with handmade English chimneys, large Palladian windows and a 22-seat formal dining room, a personal sauna and a billiards room. Outside are a pool, a two story pool house and a 2-acre rose garden.
The house is owned by Morgan O’Brien, co-founder of Nextel, and his wife Belle Brooks O’Brien. The O’Briens purchased it in 1999 for $8 million from its original owners Mario and Maureen Boiardi, who built the house during the late 1980s.
Mr. Boiardi died in 2007. According to his obituary in the Baltimore Sun, Mr. Boiardi was the son and sole heir of Ettoire (Hector) Boidari, an Italian immigrant who had been head chef at the Plaza and Ritz-Carlton Hotels, and who later made a fortune selling ready-made Italian foods sold under the name Chef Boy-Ar-Dee. He also appeared in a series of famous ads during the 60s and 70s whose slogan was “Thank Goodness For Chef Boyardee!!” Mr. Boiardi, Jr. was a businessman in his own right, owning a steel mill, a marble company and a research and development firm before retiring to Penderyn.
The auction will be held at 11 a.m. on July 19, onsite at 300 Wye Narrows Drive in Queenstown, MD. For more information contact decaroauctions.com.
