Peconic Panorama
Just when we thought the world of TV dinners would never flicker into memory again, along comes the Swanson (yes, that Swanson) house. Built in 1930 near Sag Harbor as the main house of their family compound, it demonstrates (1) that the family seemed to have had money even before they started freezing foods, and (2) that the family had Arcadian tastes for the rugged outdoors.
Insider Real Estate Rating
Architecture: Unexciting exterior, but touches of 30’s period detailing. Most engaging is the original great room, with high ceilings, antique hewn timber, oversized stone fireplace and pegged oak floors.
Site: Spectacular views of Peconic Bay from one of the highest waterfront elevations in the Hamptons. Truly breathtaking. Sloping lawns on 2 acres, with staircase down to sandy beach.
Condition: Well kept and simple. Most buyers are likely to renovate and expand to achieve a more luxe Hamptons lifestyle.
The inside word: Every panorama has a price. And $3,800,000 should buy you a great deal of sea and sky. If it sounds expensive, remember that real estate trades in Sag Harbor and Noyac have been astounding this year. We see as a purchaser a windsurfer (like the current owner) who has taken off his wetsuit long enough to put on a business suit, make a fortune, and buy himself a sporting Valhalla.
High Tea
Want your own sunset views over Georgica Pond? First accumulate lots of money, not a few million dollars, but copious wealth with lines of fat zeros and commas. Then wait for a current resident to die, go broke, or move to another continent. In this case, we are glad to say the owner has decamped for London, not the great hereafter. So one of the very rare large pondfront properties is on the market. The price is a dazzling $10,000,000—but it guarantees you a place in the pantheon of Hamptons property ownership.
Insider Real Estate Rating
Architecture: An old house expanded and improved over the years. What might be a perfectly good luxury home on some other site, however, just doesn’t cut it on the fabled shores of Georgica Pond.
Site: It’s a heart thumping five acres with 415 feet of waterfront, plus pool, tennis and encyclopedic landscaping. Most unusual is the pool pavilion: an authentic Indian teahouse made of teak and rosewood with a copper roof.
Condition: The beautiful and expensive site work is here to stay; focus on that, because in a Darwinian real estate competition for survival, the days are numbered for this house.
The inside word: This fabulous property is really an Indian teahouse in search of its Taj Mahal, and there will no doubt be a happy match in the future. Plans and permits are already in place—the current owner was going to renovate the existing house, and we expect any buyer will do the same. It’s all very pricey, but there is real substance: when your friends drop in for a tea party they’ll know you’re at the pinnacle here with absolute top-line real estate.
Island Clubhouse
Enormous, and then some, is the current rage in homebuilding. Everyone who can afford it (and perhaps a few who can’t) is building a house big enough for a country club. Here, in a nice ironic twist, is a house that actually was a country club. Built in 1911 as the clubhouse of the Manhanset Country Club on one of the most beautiful sites in Shelter Island, it was subsequently converted to a single 10,000 square foot residence.
Insider Real Estate Rating
Architecture: Loosely Mediterranean, but liberally reflecting the American optimism and can-do spirit of its time. It’s not pretentious, not ostentatious; it really is Italianate, grand and important.
Site: On a bluff in the Dering Harbor estate area, with 100 year old specimen trees, 40 by 60 swimming pool, 500 feet of sandy beach, and deep water dock.
Condition: Well maintained. A huge house on three landscaped acres requires a lot of maintenance. It is no accident there are separate staff quarters.
The inside word: The price of $3,900,000 seems reasonable, principally by comparison with the neighboring towns in the Hamptons. A value-conscious buyer will have to covet island life, with its relative quiet and privacy, its slow pace and insular qualities. You need the ability to kick back and relax in beauty and luxury and not worry about the current party or last ferry.
Tree House
The previous owner lived 94 years. We can’t say whether it was high fiber, low fat or lavish surroundings, but, however unscientific, we’re excited by the thought that extravagance might be beneficial to your health. Not that you need an excuse to acquire one of the very few intact Southampton estates from the golden age of building. You do need $25,000,000, however. Built in 1915, “Linden” was designed by Grosvenor Atterbury, architect of The Parrish Art Museum, The Creeks, and The American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum. The sprawling 17,000 square-foot residence houses multiple public rooms with period detailing, seven bedrooms with baths, a staff wing, a caretaker’s house, carriage barn with chauffeur’s apartment, greenhouses and garages. A pool, terrace, mature trees, cutting gardens, manicured lawns, fruit orchards and allées cover the rest of the 16.4 acre property