LeRoy’s Lavish Toys
Warner LeRoy, who died in 2001, was often described as a larger than life character. But in the Hamptons that is about normal size. Known for creating Maxwell’s Plum, and then reviving Tavern on the Green and The Russian Tea Room, LeRoy also created a large and lavish personal estate in Amagansett. Kay LeRoy, his widow, has now listed that property for sale.
Architecture: A large (11 bedrooms, 10 baths) modern structure of stone and cedar with strong horizontal elements and large overhangs, it suggests a Midwestern prairie style while not exactly copying it.
Site: Composed of a number of Grace Estate lots, combined and merged, it is a beautifully landscaped and very private 14 acres with gardens, water features and long distance water views.
The inside word: Conservative when compared to the décor of his restaurants and his extravagant and eccentric art collections, this property should be attractive to buyers. Particularly since it is unusual to find this much acreage in a prime location. LeRoy, who grew up in a Hollywood world that helped define fabulous, clearly knew quality and where and how to put his money. Offered at $8.5 million.
North Star
We like to report now and then on the continuing and inexorable spread of the estate areas. It’s an expensive (of course) Hamptons version of the desertification of the north of China. Only here it’s not yellow sand. It’s shingle mansions. They spread first from the old summer colonies near the ocean to nearby neighborhoods, and then reached out in all directions—as far as money can go.
Architecture: There is an inherent dignity and sedateness to this traditional shingled house with intersecting hip and gable roofs. It was designed with restraint and sensitivity, without grand gestures or unnecessary ornament.
Site: In the Northwest section of East Hampton, on 2.2 acres with pool, pool house and attractive landscaping. Out in the woods, but not too far out, and worth the trip.
This inside word: We like the decorum of this place. It’s polished without using the usual props and tasteful without tricks. The vanishing edge pool may be the most daredevil gesture here. The covered porches seem restful and restorative. It is a pastoral composition, offered at $3.450 million.
Industrial Art
Gin Lane and the eastern portion of Meadow Lane in Southampton have long been the site of great estates with gates, hedges and manicured grounds. Until about 25 years ago, however, the western portion of Meadow Lane was still dunes and sand. When building started there, you could sense a definite old money/new money dichotomy. But now it’s leveled out—it’s just plain money, money, money from east to west.
Architecture: Industrial modernism is a style that peaked a couple of decades ago but still has its adherents. This is an interesting example, built with the high quality and weighty industrial type materials this style requires, and maintained to perfection.
Site: Four acres with 200 feet of oceanfront and views of the Atlantic on one side and Shinnecock Bay on the other. Still mostly sand dunes, but, oh, what swanky sand.
The inside word: The house is a bit of an abstraction of a Greek temple with rows of exterior columns. It feels stately. It might remind some people of a corporate headquarters or one of those zillion dollar beach houses in warm weather climates like Hawaii or Boca Raton. But it is commanding and impressive, a substantial house of some consequence. Offered at $19.5 million.
Extreme Real Estate
Fresh water mixes with salt water in estuaries like Georgica Pond, and fresh money at least meets, if it does not always mix with, established gentry in places like the Georgica Association. This upper crust enclave on the western shore of Georgica Pond is among the most compelling addresses in the Hamptons, if not the universe.
Architecture: One of the original houses built after William Wood bought 140 acres in 1880 and established what would become the Georgica Association. Shingle style with sympathetic if not necessarily rigorous additions and renovations result in a pleasant, organic composition—and that after all is the essence of shingle style.
Site: On 3.2 acres high enough above sea level to have survived the 1938 hurricane intact, with 76 feet of coveted pond frontage, not contiguous but across the private association road.
The inside word: Extreme real estate. This listing should ignite lots of interest among high rollers in town. Though the house is large, luxurious and in perfect shape, and the price is a heady $12 million, we wonder if it is all regal enough for today’s merchant princes. We love houses like this, but we suspect that the T word—teardown—or least a major makeover, is floating subliminally in this offering.