Harry Helmsley

Harry B. Helmsley (March 4, 1909 – January 4, 1997) was an American real estate billionaire whose company, Helmsley-Spear, became one of the country’s biggest property holders, owning the Empire State Building and many of New York’s most prestigious hotels. From humble beginnings, Helmsley moved up in property through natural salesmanship, a willingness to delegate, and shrewd acquisition policies that were ahead of their time. His second marriage to Leona Roberts (“Queen of Mean”) led to charges of false accounting and tax evasion, and a celebrated trial, where Harry was judged too frail to plead, but Leona was fined and jailed.

Early career

Henry Brakman Helmsley was the son of Henry Helmsley, a wholesale dry goods buyer, and the former Minnie Brakmann. He was born in Manhattan and brought up in the Bronx, attending Evander Childs High School, where he did not graduate. The family could not afford a college education, but his grandfather got him a job as office boy in a real estate firm, Dwight, Voorhis & Perry, where he showed a keen talent for the business and was made a partner. In 1938 he bought the firm, renaming it Dwight, Voorhis & Helmsley. In the first half of his career, his portfolio consisted mainly of smaller properties in less-affluent parts of New York City, though it was extensive and highly profitable.

Helmsley

Coordinates: 54°14′48″N 1°03′16″W / 54.246572°N 1.054344°W / 54.246572; -1.054344

Helmsley is a market town and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, the town is located at the point where Rye Dale leaves the moorland and joins the flat Vale of Pickering.

It is situated on the River Rye on the A170 road, 14 miles (23 km) east of Thirsk, 13 miles (21 km) west of Pickering and some 24 miles (39 km) due north of York. The southern boundary of the North York Moors National Park passes through Helmsley along the A170 road so that the western part of the town is within the National Park.

The settlement grew around its position at a road junction and river crossing point. Helmsley is a compact town, retaining its medieval layout around its market place with more recent development to the north and south of its main thoroughfare, Bondgate. It is an historic town of considerable architectural character whose centre has been designated as a conservation area. The town is associated with the Earls of Feversham whose ancestral home Duncombe Park was built overlooking Helmsley Castle. A statue of William Duncombe, 2nd Baron Feversham stands in the town's square. The town is a popular tourist centre and has won gold medals in the Large Village category of Yorkshire in Bloom for three years. The town square is a meeting place for motorcyclists as it is at the end of the B1257 road from Stokesley, which is a favourite with bikers.

Helmsley (disambiguation)

Places named Helmsley

People named Helmsley

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