H Estate
The skittish stock market kept renters home for a while but they finally came back, opting for smaller houses or shorter seasons or any compromise less wrenching to the checkbook—though even reduced prices on a Hamptons rental can hardly qualify as penny-pinching. The jury is still out on sales activity. If buyers are showing some caution, sellers are sitting tight. Neither side has blinked yet. Our review of some of the top listings in town shows that the Hamptons love affair with numbers ending in lots of fat round zeros is as strong as ever.
Georgica Establishment
Even the estate area seems subject to gentrification. The moderately luxurious, moderately expensive is being bulldozed into memory by the very opulent and expensive. Will we someday be nostalgic for the fast disappearing rich person’s ranch house? Probably not, with handsome replacements that at least nod in the direction of their conservative roots.
Architecture: Though on a cul-de-sac, the front facade would be at home on any wealthy suburban street. It’s comfortable and traditional, establishment to the core, with not a sign of postmodern flimflam. What it misses in visual stimulation, it more than makes up for in emotional succor—definitely a nice house to come home to.
Site: Two acres south (but not deep south) of the highway in the East Hampton estate area, with pool and tennis court.
Condition: New, well-detailed, well-finished. Everything is where you expect it to be and of the quality you expect it to be.
The inside word: With five bedrooms and six and a half baths, lots of indulgent treats, and a genuine estate feeling to the property, it’s an impressive package. $4,900,000 is an ambitious price, but certainly within the range for the area in general
Lake Agawam Luxe
Ramble across the lawn to a rowboat bobbing at the dock of a lake, stroll to the village in the mornings—this, in a daydream, could be your Huck Finn/Tom Sawyer fantasy. But in reality this is the Southampton we know and love, so top it off with a 6,400 square foot mansion, a huge oval swimming pool, his and her baths, an elevator, a staff wing, and a significant price tag.
Architecture: The style is French, French Normandy to be more exact, but the manner of borrowing and adapting European styles is thoroughly American. In certain locations it might be pretentious, but there has always been an undercurrent of imaginative hi jinks in the Southampton estate area, and we like the way this property carries that forward.
Condition: Barely twelve years old and beautifully maintained. With lots of rooms and massive amounts of custom detailing, this is a lot of house to keep up with.
Site: Two extraordinary acres with expansive views of Lake Agawam as well as ocean views from the second floor master bedroom.
The inside word: There is a kind of brash American optimism at work here. The very tasteful can-do attitude that piles on amenities and anticipates even remote needs with food warmers, wine coolers and future maid’s rooms. The price of $6,950,000 is a big number, but you’ll never have to go gizmo shopping at Bed Bath & Beyond again.
Millionaire’s Modern
You might want to trade in all your valuables—but hang on to your golf clubs, tennis racquet and bathing suit. Then put the proceeds toward the purchase of this Further Lane oceanfront estate, comprising a 13,600 square foot house with gorgeous ocean views, acres and acres of velvety green lawn dotted with a pool, tennis court and putting green. Then you might want to stay forever.
Architecture: A lavish 1980’s sort of modern. Call it millionaire’s modern. The scale borders on monumental, and indeed houses in this genre are generally monuments to the owner’s success, showcases for their art and possessions.
Condition: As they say, you could eat off the floor—which undoubtedly cost more per square inch than most people’s Crate & Barrel summer dishes.
Site: If there is something approaching universal perfection in real estate, this could be it. The consummate East Hampton estate. Eleven acres stretching to the double dunes, with the ocean beyond.
The inside word: It’s a puzzling property from the Hamptons snob point of view. The location and lot are simply unbeatable. The house, luxurious as it is, is not a style that’s in vogue right now. It won’t appeal to the rich, trendy young techies out there, but it will be very inviting to your normal middle-aged billionaire.