Shelter Island ‘Folk’ Victorians 495/595K

SHELTER ISLAND IS AN IDYLLIC PLACE, tucked between the North and South Forks of Long Island and accessible only by ferry. In its northwest corner is an almost perfectly preserved community of 1870s cottages with steeply pitched roofs and distinctive wood trim, along with more elaborate houses of the 1880s.

That corner of the island is Shelter Island Heights, with a total of 141 vintage houses on roughly 300 acres. About 100 of them were built by the Methodist Episcopal Church which, for eight short years in the 1870s, used the area for religious camp meetings. Frederick Law Olmstead had a hand in laying out the  park-like open spaces, curving roads, and groves of trees.

The first wave of construction consisted of about 70 cottages with steeply pitched gable roofs and elaborate wood trim, similar to those found at camp meeting sites like Oak Bluffs in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., and Ocean Grove, N.J.,

Two such houses, top, in Shelter Island Heights — next door neighbors, in fact — are now on the market. Both are circa 1879, with water views, as well as occasional views of cars lined up to board the North Ferry for Greenport.

5 Clinton Avenue, for 495K, above, is an unheated 4BR, 1.5 bath cottage with a wraparound front porch and open second floor balcony. Go here for more info and pics.

2 Waverly Place, asking 595K, below, is similar, but with 3 BR, electric heat, and a large side yard. There more info here.

Both are convenient to charming and low-key shops and restaurants, as well as tennis, beach, ferry, and marina.

Please note: I am not a real estate broker, nor do I have any financial interest in the sale of any property mentioned on this blog. I just like spreading the word about unique, historic properties and what I believe are solid investment opportunities.

Greenport Waterview Cottage 499K

IN SWELTERING TIMES LIKE THESE, even the sight of water is a relief.

Oceanfront may be out of reach for most of us, but if bay, sound, harbor, creek, or inlet will do, that opens up the possibilities considerably.

Here’s a 1960 Cape-style cottage on 1.25 acres at the head of Pipes Creek in Greenport, on Long Island’s North Fork, with views out to Shelter Island Sound. It’s got 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, and an enclosed porch. Total square footage is 1,890, and taxes are $6,500/year (bit of a bummer, that).

To see pictures of the interior, go here.

It’s an exclusive listing with Jeanmarie Bay of Town & Country Real Estate,
631-298-0600 x 109 or 917-519-4180, jbay@1TownandCountry.com. Tell her I sent you.

BOTTOM FISHING: Ugly Houses, Stunning Views

CAN YOU GET A WATER VIEW in the Hamptons under or around 500K?

Yes, you can! The house won’t be much to look at, though.

Take the view of Amagansett’s Napeague Bay, top, for example. Here’s the house that goes with it, below. At 195 square feet on 1/12 of an acre, it’s barely one step up from a trailer. They’re asking 515K for it, too. But it’s a breathtaking view in an unspoiled area, and the so-called house is right smack on the water.

The beauty of a crummy house is that you can do anything you want with it. No historic detail to worry about. Where is Domino magazine when we need it? Those clever editors could have taken one of these ugly ducks and transformed it into a stylish swan in a weekend.

Have a look at this barn-like structure in the Sag Harbor area, below, on the market for 475K. It’s on .70 acre, with woods in back, water in front.

Awkward on the outside, the interior is more appealing:

And the view, below, is sensational (unless the listing is misleading, which is always possible – I haven’t seen it).

My main aesthetic complaint with these places is the windows. Swapping out aluminum sliders for multi-paned windows and French doors would go a long way toward making these properties more attractive. As for landscaping: think ornamental grasses.

This one, below, is near me, in the Springs area of East Hampton. It’s little more than a shoebox. Asking 425K, the brown-paneled interior cries out for buckets of white paint.

Dig them motorized awnings. They’re to mitigate the glare of the sunsets over Three Mile Harbor (don’t go by that terrible picture, below, from the realtor’s site – it’s more beautiful than that).

A water view, be it ocean, bay, or harbor, is what the East End of Long Island is about, after all.

[Click on live links in this post for more info]

Bayfront Cottage in Pine Neck for, say, 425K

I LOVE this old-fashioned 3BR cottage in an excellent location in Pine Neck, right on Noyac Bay. Two doors down, smack on the water, there’s a mean little shack, and they’re asking $3mil for it.

This one has a real summer-bungalow feel, though it’s winterized. Ask is 455K but James Keogh, the listing agent (james.keogh@elliman.com), thinks it can be had for 425K or thereabouts — “400 to start the conversation.”

If I could have pulled it off, I would have, but it was a bit beyond my reach. I tried to talk my sister into buying it, so I could at least hang out there, but she didn’t bite.

Here’s what I love about it:

• water views from nearly every window
• the kitchen: roomy, clean, country-ish, and in the right place — at the back of the house, leading to the rear lawn and future porch
• the funky ’40s trim, now painted blue, like the scalloped brackets under the window boxes
• the windows, unique and original, with unusual vertical mullions in the top sash
• it’s very near Foster-Memorial Long Beach Town Park, wonderful for swimming
• the hip, historic town of Sag Harbor is only 2 miles away

• 

Here’s what would make it more fabulous:

• landscaping
• shutters, to give the windows more presence
• removing the screening from the front entry porch, which faces the road (an exceedingly quiet road, but nonetheless)
• putting a screened porch at the rear of the house, facing the water – duh!
• slamming through the dropped ceilings inside the house and opening them to the roofline to create vaulted ceilings throughout