Inside musician Billy Joel's impressive real estate portfolio: Where does his Oyster Bay estate stand now?
A Hudson River retreat
In the mid-1970s, Joel and his first wife, Elizabeth Weber, rented a roughly three-acre estate about 50 miles north of Manhattan. The five-bedroom brick Cape Cod-style home had been built on land where J.P. Morgan had a house constructed in 1872 for its Hudson River views.
The earlier buildings burned, and the residence built in their place during the 1950s incorporated bricks from the damaged structures. The property later included a three-bedroom carriage house, a one-bedroom cottage, an in-ground pool and a private vineyard, alongside the 4,300-square-foot main house.
Homes linked to music
Joel and Weber also kept a glass house in Oyster Bay, where floor-to-ceiling windows looked toward Long Island Sound. Photographs from 1978 show a grand piano positioned in the living room facing the water.
The house is pictured on the cover of Joel’s 1980 album, Glass Houses, and may have inspired its title. The article also recounts Joel’s familiar story of writing “New York State of Mind” while riding a Greyhound bus up the Hudson River.
Manhattan and Amagansett properties
In 1982, Joel bought Weber a six-story redbrick town house on the Upper East Side for $4 million, hoping the gift would help repair their marriage. They divorced two years later, but Weber stayed in the 10,000-square-foot home with her son until 1997; it then sold for $3.74 million.
In the mid-1980s, Joel and his second wife, Christie Brinkley, acquired a 12-acre oceanfront property in Amagansett for an undisclosed price. Its buildings included a manor house, a three-bedroom guesthouse and a 1700s-era barn. Joel sold the estate to Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld for $32 million in 2000, then the area’s most expensive recorded purchase.
MiddleSea in Oyster Bay
The main house also had a bowling alley, wine cellar, spa and salon area, and six fireplaces. Joel reportedly covered the indoor pool to use the space as a music room, according to the Wall Street Journal.
After living there for much of two decades, Joel listed MiddleSea for $49 million in spring 2023. The New York Times reported annual property taxes exceeded $567,000. Joel told the outlet, “As successful as I've been financially—yeah, that's you know, that's a lot.” He later removed the estate from the market, renovated it and re-listed it; the provided text ends before stating the new price.
Key points
- Joel and Elizabeth Weber rented a Hudson River estate in the mid-1970s.
- Joel’s Oyster Bay glass house is pictured on the cover of Glass Houses.
- He sold his Amagansett estate to Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld for $32 million in 2000.
- MiddleSea was listed for $49 million in 2023 before Joel withdrew and renovated it.