How the secret room hidden behind this bookcase reveals the fear gripping America’s wealthiest homeowners
New York City’s wealthy elite are building elaborate secret panic rooms in their glitzy mansions, amid fears of rising crime in the Big Apple.
The trend of millionaires installing electrified doorknobs, rooms that fire pepper spray outward, and ballistic-grade walls to protect them from intruders trying to break in is repeating itself across America.
These photos show just some of the clever designs built into bookcases, staircases, and fireplaces in upscale neighborhoods like Park Avenue and the West Village.
It comes as the rich and famous fear criminals in New York City, where crime has spiraled in recent years.
Rigdon’s panic rooms start at $50,000, and can cost up to $1 million to fortify luxury apartments in New York City
Comedian Joan Rivers and actress Gwyneth Paltrow have reportedly had panic rooms
New York Magazine reports that Bill Rigdon is the person mega-rich Manhattanites call when they want a closet that locks from the inside with electrified door handles.
Rigdon, who also deals in yachts, armored vehicles and art, said he had someone as a client who worked at Fox News – and his equipment starts at $50,000.
“I once had a Fox News reporter who had a whole plan for a basement bunker where 13, 14 people could stay for a while,” Rigdon said.
Rigdon said his business of building hidden bunkers in New York City apartments is booming as more affluent city residents feel the five boroughs are doomed.
One panic room company owner, Steve Humble of Creative Home Engineering, told the magazine he saw a marked uptick in business, especially in New York, as Black Lives Matter protests broke out across the country in the summer of 2020.
New York City’s wealthy elite are building incredible secret panic rooms in their glitzy mansions amid fears about rising crime in the Big Apple
Another example of a panic room, where a bookcase serves as an entrance
“That wave has subsided a bit, but has largely been replaced by the continued increase in violent crime in major cities like New York,” Humble said.
While The number of violent crimes has fallen noticeably since April 2024Crime in America’s largest city remains high compared to 2019 lows, according to the NYPD.
In 2019, Approximately 95,000 crime incidents occurred in New York according to the NYPD. By 2023, that number was 126,678. That is an increase of 33 percent compared to four years earlier, despite the fact that overall crime is indeed slowly declining.
The NYPD stated in its 2023 report that homicides increased for four consecutive years until last year, when they fell 11 percent to a total of 386.
Yet, looking back at 2019, before the pandemic and the protests related to the police killing of George Floyd, there are 21 percent fewer homicides than in 2023.
Next to each other with the regular wall, left, and the opening to the safe room, right
An appraiser named Jonathan Miller, who knows urban real estate inside and out, said panic rooms are all the rage for the ultra-wealthy
Panic room companies said they often serve celebrities, billionaires, government officials and embassies.
A mirror safe designed by Creative Home Engineering
Other crimes such as rapes, robberies, assaults and grand thefts are still much higher than they were four years ago, according to NYPD data.
Amid this objectively more dangerous environment, New Yorkers are “shutting down,” Humble says.
Panic room companies said they often serve celebrities, billionaires, government officials and embassies.
Rigdon couldn’t specifically reveal his clients because of the non-disclosure agreements he signed, but he did drop hints.
His clients include a “famous pianist from England who wears funny glasses” and “a TV presenter who is very famous with a boyfriend called Gayle.”
Rigdon also dropped the bombshell that Jeffrey Epstein’s brother once called him.
Rigdon gave hints as to which celebrities he had as clients, referring to one of them as a “famous pianist from England who wears funny glasses.”
Those in the business of panic rooms say selling them to rich people is as easy as telling them it’s better to be safe than sorry
Pictured: A panic room designed by Creative Home Engineering, owned by Steve Humble
Comedian Joan Rivers had a safe room in her Fifth Avenue penthouse to hide from stalkers, according to the New York Times reported.
Gwyneth Paltrow also reportedly had a safe room in her old West Fourth Street apartment, but her rep said she only used it to store clothes.
It’s easy to say that panic rooms are common among an extremely small portion of the city’s population, but given the exorbitant cost (Rigdon’s panic rooms start at $50,000) it’s a little harder to believe that people are actually having them done at a higher rate .
To find out, the magazine spoke to Jonathan Miller, an appraiser from the city.
“We’ve seen it in the last three to four years with gut renovations,” Miller said. It’s like adding a jacuzzi.’
However, Miller thinks it’s a fad, something only luxury homeowners are really intrigued by. For example, a luxury apartment in the city could cost $1 million to fortify.
The owners of panic rooms say the way they sell this ridiculously expensive addition to rich people’s homes is by convincing them that they are “better safe than sorry.”