ReaL estate 38 P o R t L a n d monthly mAgA Ine first a tennis star, then a yacht desi ner. who doesn t love t s C Lives Charmed P erched on 21 soaring acres with 1,110 feet of jaw-dropping views of Gilkey Harbor Bay, the Sears Cottage on Islesboro was designed in 1908 by society architect Guy Lowell for tennis star Rich- ard D. Sears, a Harvard grad who won sev- en consecutive national singles champion- ships from 1881-1887 and was in the first wave of Americans to play at Wimbledon, in 1884. When Sears passed away, another celebrity sportsman sailed in: Frank Cabot Paine of America’s Cup fame. HoLding Co Rt In Maine, the Sears Cottage was the talk of the island as it took shape with a carriage house and stable, billiard house, reading room, staff quarters, private pond, walls of roses, and long deepwater dock—amenities still present today, according to LandVest, the listing firm asking $8.975M. Sears must have specified a panthe- on in the wilderness, because that’s what Guy Lowell served up at 135 West Shore Drive. Pillars, terraces, pergolas, awnings, and a stucco façade completed the illu- sion fitting for a Mayflower descendant and grandson of U.S. Senator David Sears, who personally developed the lion’s share of Brookline, Massachusetts. La nCHing a ne LegaCy In April, 1943, Richard died. In 1944, his wife, Eleanor Cochrane Sears, sold the nine- bedroom, 9,896-square-foot Renaissance Revival mansion to another proper Bosto- nian—yachtsman Paine, who owned and designed many America’s Cup defenders. Loveliest of these vessels was perhaps the J-Class Yankee, shown right during her launch in 1930. yo R t Rn at tHe HeeL Today, eleven fireplaces still warm this yare home. The kitchen with slate fireplace is in museum-quality condition. The tall cabinets in the butler’s pan- try whisk visitors back to an- other time. through windows and vertical echelons of porches: “A perfect and powerful setting for any and all human emotion; from con- templation to celebration and everything in-between.” Two kitchens, seven bedrooms, and sev- en baths spell luxury. A treetop bald eagles’ nest at window level puts wildlife theater on stage. A soaring granite fireplace enchants, while the salon engages the sea with such immediacy it leaves you breathless. Fermata is a tour de force. ■ By CoLin . saRgent from left: SwAn AgenCy - SotheBy S InternAtIonAl reAlty - mIke PerlmAn; CourteSy Photo; SuSAn young lomBArDo; www.AmerICA-SCooP.Com Photo AnD fACt reSourCe ichard .Sears