Love at First Site
Latitude: 40.880556 N. Longitude: 72.368333 W. 5 feet above sea level. It might sound like a geography lesson, but it belongs in economics. It’s the location of Wickapogue Pond, home to some of the priciest and most wanted real estate in the Hamptons. Only the dunes and some posh Southampton grass separate it from the ocean.
Architecture: Cedar shingles weathered grey (by nature, we think, with an artful little boost from the painter) and perfectly maintained white trim keep this imposing house looking traditionally correct.
Site: With the ocean to the south and Wickapogue Pond to the north and east, this 3.6 acre property is the promised land of Hamptons real estate.
The inside word: This place is more than big and nobby. A sumptuous and romantic dream has been deliberately constructed. An animating spirit that is more than the sum of the land and the house gives it a kind of well upholstered soul. Details like the roofed colonnade and the ocean view pool are seductive, and a buyer might very well be seduced into writing a check for $35 million.
Coast with the Most
“Gold Coast” is jargon for certain upscale real estate areas, and brokers have lately been using the term to describe Bluff Road in Amagansett. Unlike a lot of broker-speak, this a pretty good use of the words. The street is expensive and sought after, so metaphorically it is correct. And since it parallels a large reserve of double dunes along the ocean, it is literally accurate.
Architecture: A spacious and generous house with enormous gables evoking the original shingle style architecture of its older neighbors.
Site: On Bluff Road, opposite the dunes, 1.25 acres, with well conceived landscaping that is sympathetic to the natural surroundings.
The inside word: An excellent location, good taste, fine workmanship and some originality help justify the hefty price tag of $8.75 million. Only a few years old, it has the feeling of appropriateness and permanence that is increasingly hard to come by—even in luxury real estate. The architect and owners did some brainstorming here.
Call it Ritz
There was a time when you would mention the Hamptons (or East End or South Fork, the more common terms in past generations) and people would picture endless potato fields and small, quiet villages. The beauty is still here, but now, the Hamptons connotes extravagance, excess, indulgence and affluence. At the end of the 2005 summer season, we live with an abundance of everything, good and bad.
Architecture: An over-the-top, postmodern experience, combining a number of architectural styles. It’s big and lavish—and perhaps generic enough to be found anyplace in America where money talks out loud.
Site: The large house, behemoth garage and ornate terraces and gardens don’t leave lots of open space on the 1.4 acres, but they definitely give it a big-ticket look. Located a couple of doors south of the highway in East Hampton Village.
The inside word: This place is luscious, frilly, showy and swank. It’s the kind of house that needs a big, imperious personality to fill it, and as we know, there are plenty of those in the Hamptons real estate market. We predict someone will go head over heels for something this grand, formal and exaggerated. Offered at $7.5 million.
Glowing Bright
Whale oil fueled the lamps that lit homes along the eastern seaboard in the nineteenth century, and it also fueled a building boom in Sag Harbor. Merchants, ship owners and captains became wealthy men, and expressed their prosperity by building mansions as big and ornate as they could afford. They created an important architectural legacy behind those white picket fences.
Architecture: Greek Revival elements typical of the years before 1860, after which the whaling trade and whaling wealth rapidly diminished, establish the look and feel here. It is a graceful composition.
Site: On Captain’s Row, the residential part of Sag Harbor’s Main Street, a smallish lot with nice gardens and approval for a pool.
The inside word: Historic houses have undoubted charm, but they also have layouts that can seem odd in the 21st century. Fortunately, what seems messy to one buyer will be exactly right for another. The restoration work here is well done. Offered at $3.1 million.