Mansion on Connecticut shore sells for record $120 million

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A waterfront estate in Connecticut featuring two private islands and a mile of shorefront has sold for $120 million, making it the most expensive residential home sale in U.S. history, real estate experts said on Monday. Copper Beech Farm, a 12-bedroom mansion complete with its own clock tower, greenhouse, solarium and swimming pool along Long Island Sound in exclusive Greenwich, Connecticut, had originally been listed at $190 million. The 50-acre (20 hectare) estate was purchased last week by The Conservation Institute LLC, according to sale records. Its $120 million selling price was nearly double the previous most expensive home sale in the U.S., the 2013 purchase of an estate in the Hamptons, on Long Island, New York, for $62.5 million, according to RealtyTrac, a real estate information company. The average price of a home sold in the United States in February, the most recent month on record, was $164,667, RealtyTrac said. Copper Beech Farm was built in 1898 and purchased in 1904 by the Lauder Greenway family. George Lauder was a cousin of steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie. According to luxury real estate firm David Ogilvy & Associates, which listed the property, the estate has 15,000 square feet (1,394 square meters) of living space, an 1,800 foot (549 meter) driveway, a staff wing, a heated pool, pergola, tennis court and two islands. (Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; editing by Scott Malone and G Crosse)