Sleepy Hollow – LOCATION, location, location: Everyone in real estate knows that’s the key, and who would have appreciated the truism more fully than the real estate magnate Harry Helmsley? He is certainly in a position to know, even from his new and, we must hope, final resting place here in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. A $1.4-million granite mausoleum bearing the Helmsley name, it stands imposingly on the crest of a hill.
Mr. Helmsley, a self-made billionaire, died in 1997 and was soon afterward entombed at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. The Daily News described his mausoleum there as “A Tomb With a View.” It was decorated with stained-glass windows depicting a city skyline centered on the Empire State Building, once the crown jewel of his real estate empire. It was far bigger than most such edifices in Woodlawn, as well as being the first large structure to meet the eye on entry. Evidently, however, that view became spoiled, at least in the mind of Leona Helmsley, Mr. Helmsley’s widow. She disliked the community mausoleum built right next door in 2004, finding that it intruded on her husband’s seclusion, said Howard Rubenstein, a spokesman for the family. She soon began looking for a more serene resting place.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/23/nyregion/county-lines-why-leona-buried-harry-not-once-but-twice.html?smid=pl-share