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Former Citigroup chief Sanford I. Weill had an obsession with fireplaces and had one installed in his office when he took over at 399 Park Ave. Putting in a fireplace in a 41-story skyscraper built in 1961 is not like adding one to your run of the mill suburban home. In fact, Weill has installed fireplaces at every office he's had as a CEO, according to a BusinessWeek story from 1995:
Meanwhile, Weill's predecessor, John S. Reed, had installed a Zen garden on the second floor of 399 Park Ave. More recently, former Citigroup executive Todd S. Thomson loved fish tanks and had a fireplace in his office as well. "For me to have a small freshwater goldfish bowl in my office meant, when a Chinese client comes, 'this guy understands our culture a little bit.' If that gives me a little bit of a leg up with three or four Chinese billionaires, I think I've paid for the goldfish bowl," Thompson said. The fireplaces and gardens make the requests for Sub-Zero icemakers and refrigerators seem entirely reasonable. That really just shows how tough times are for bankers. However, the real question is what's becoming of those fireplaces and gardens in the renovation? - Maria Woehr
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From: Samuel Osgood,
Ha, Citi executives should be happy with a Coleman cooler, a steel drum and if they are really lucky, maybe a Bonsai tree.
Posted on:
March 19, 2009 5:12 PM
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The media is all worked up over Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) CEO Vikram Pandit's 
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The only fireplace at 399 Park was a cardboard one, similar to what you would use for a Christmas decoration.