Joan Bennett Kennedy’s Longtime Boston Home Is Listed for $2.6 Million—and It Still Bears Her Unique Design Hallmarks

The elegant Boston apartment where Joan Bennett Kennedy lived for more than 45 years has been brought to the market by her surviving children, Ted Jr. and Patrick, for $2.59 million.

Bennett Kennedy, who died in October 2025 at the age of 89, purchased the property in the 1970s with her husband, Sen. Ted Kennedy Sr. It passed into her possession after their divorce in 1982 and served as her primary residence until her death.

Located in a historic building on the edge of the Charles River, the three-bedroom, three-bathroom abode still bears many hallmarks of Bennett Kennedy's time spent there, including the talented musician's stunning Steinway piano, which sits alongside a cozy fireplace in the main room.

While listing agent Linda Barrett of Douglas Elliman—who was a close friend of Bennett Kennedy's for many years—tells Realtor.com® that the piano will likely be moved before the home is sold, it is far from the only mark that the property's legendary owner left behind.

"There was a designer in Boston that was very well known; his name was Richard Fitzgerald, and he helped to design the space with Joan," she shares. "And it was just beautiful.
It was really very beautiful."

Before the home was brought to market, it was carefully staged to obscure some of Bennett Kennedy's more unique design touches—including her highly specific choice of bedroom paint color, a detail Barrett shares.

"Her favorite colors were pink and purple. So her bedroom was pink," the listing agent reveals. "She just loved it. The wall coloring was pink and rug was pink. And as a matter of fact, I have a beautiful orchid on, and it's a beautiful, sort of a raspberry pink petals to it. And I thought, 'This color is definitely for Joan.'"

Though Bennett Kennedy's pink bedroom has since been repainted white, there are splashes of her favorite hue dotted throughout the home, including in the custom-built bookshelves and several areas of the trim.

"She loved to read, and she had many, many bookcases," Barrett adds.

There is also one element of the home that Bennett Kennedy loved that cannot be replaced: its proximity to the river. Barrett notes that it was among her friend's favorite parts of living in the apartment.

"She always loved the water, and she lived on the water, in various places, but I think that having the river was especially wonderful for her," she shares. "You can also see Cambridge, but I think having the proximity to water was very peaceful for her.

"All you have to do is walk across the streets, and you're right there."

To maximize river views, the apartment features enormous windows that transform the water into a living spectacle of passing sailboats.

"I love it when all the trees are not out, because then you see them sailing and racing along Charles River, which is always great," Barrett notes.

"These wonderful windows are in three primary rooms: the living room, the dining room, and Mrs. Kennedy's bedroom. The windows are so large, you just feel that you're right there on the water, because you practically are."

During her time in the home, Bennett Kennedy filled it with mementos and reminders of her loved ones—including her children and members of the wider Kennedy dynasty, including her former brother-in-law, former President John F. Kennedy.

Barrett recalls that Bennett Kennedy's youngest child, Patrick, loved coming home to the apartment whenever he had a break from boarding school at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA.

"She had a lot of things from the history that she had certainly lived," Barrett shares. "During President Kennedy's time, Robert Kennedy's time, and of course, with time with her children. When her youngest son boarded, he loved to come home and spend time here with his mom. It was terrific that Joan was so close to them."

The apartment was also where Bennett Kennedy "reinvented herself" after her divorce from Kennedy, according to her son Ted Jr., who told Mansion Global that the home played a very vital part in his mother's life—serving as her sanctuary throughout her life, including her struggle with alcoholism.

“When my mother returned to Boston, she was reinventing herself," he said. "The Boston community really gave her the strength to transform her life and live on her own terms.

"She was a quiet and sensitive person facing many challenges in her life, and one of the first notable women talking about recovery and depression and substance use disorder with alcohol.

"At the time, these were considered personal failings, we didn’t have the understanding of these mental health issues that we have today. Her willingness to be forthright and honest really became an inspiration for women across the country."

Bennett Kennedy first revealed to People in 1978 that she had gone through a 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program while admitting that her sobriety was an everyday struggle.

"Staying sober is difficult," she confessed. "But I'm sober today, and that's all that matters. I'm working on my recovery a day at a time."

In the later years of her life, Bennett Kennedy would become known for her work as an author and a pianist, talents that she pursued within the safety of her Boston abode, where she wrote her 1992 book, "The Joy of Classical Music: A Guide for You and Your Family."

While Bennett Kennedy's personal possessions and furniture have since been removed from the home—save for her piano, which Barrett says her children or grandchildren may well take—the incredible history of the dwelling is visible throughout its bones, including the hardwood floors, elegant crown molding, and the many built-ins that used to hold her book collection.

Virtually staged listing images help to present a vision for how these design details might be incorporated into a modern transformation, with timeless furniture pieces displayed alongside the living room fireplace—which is double-sided and also opens to the primary bedroom.

"The apartment lends itself to more than one type of buyer," Barrett notes. "People are raising their children in the city, people are retiring from the suburbs, like Wellesley and Weston, and coming into the city, because you can walk everywhere."