The Plaza. (Getty)
It is nearly impossible to live in New York City for 35 years and only shell out $210,000, total. But Fannie Lowenstein did it, and she did it in style—through some knowledge of the law, and willingness to deal with grumbles from the Plaza staff, she got a Central Park view on-the-cheap for much of her life.
According to Vice, Lowenstein—a feisty, "eccentric character"—scored an apartment at the iconic hotel that overlooked Fifth Avenue and Central Park. It's unclear, however, if there's any validity to reports that one-time owner Donald Trump moved her to a three-room suite with a Steinway piano in order to see progress in his plans for a condo conversion. This has been both disputed and reported as fact, but no one seems to be able to confirm.
Back to that cheap rent—here's how it all happened:
The story of Lowenstein and her apartment starts in the wake of World War II. Back then, a number of New York's grand hotels, the Plaza included, were on the skids and decided to take on long-term tenants to insure a monthly income. One such renter was Leo Lowenstein, who held a seat on the New York Stock Exchange and could presumably afford to pay market rates but wound up with a rent-controlled unit anyway. This status then transferred to his new wife, Fannie, in 1958; she became his widow three short years later. After that, Lowenstein stayed put.
Attorney Gary Lyman, who repped the Plaza from 1977 to 2004 (that includes the time it was under the lock and key of Trump), called her: "the Eloise from hell. She walked around as if she owned the Plaza."
Lowenstein didn't just get cheap rent—per the law, she got all of the services that were promised when she had first moved in, including "high dusting," and a new paint job every couple of years.
Eventually she did depart the hotel, convinced there was toxic paint in her apartment, and relocated to the Park Lane, where she paid the nightly rate—and that's where she died in April of 1992 at 85 years old. But she remains a rent control legend for life.
