{"id":14568,"date":"2018-02-14T15:54:02","date_gmt":"2018-02-14T20:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=14568"},"modified":"2018-02-15T16:24:49","modified_gmt":"2018-02-15T21:24:49","slug":"living-large","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/living-large\/","title":{"rendered":"Living Large"},"content":{"rendered":"

February\/March 2018 | view this story as a .pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

Meet three waterfront stunners<\/strong> and discover the stories that surround them. <\/span><\/h3>\n

By Colin W. Sargent<\/span><\/p>\n

\"FM18-High-Houses\"A World Away<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Long ago, \u201cFaraway,\u201d at the tip of Eastern Point, was a fully realized Arts & Crafts statement on Greening Island, in Southwest Harbor. With 4.75 acres and 1,500 feet of deep shorefront, Philadelphia investor Sabin Woolworth Colton, Jr., a member of the New York Stock Exchange, knew he\u2019d secured a big slice of unforgettable here for his family.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe architect was Horace Wells Sellers of Tilden, Register & Pepper of Philadelphia,\u201d says listing agent Story Litchfield. \u201cThe fabulous house dates to 1901. \u201cIt was in the Colton family for over 100 years. Mrs. Colton was lovely but older, and her grown daughters were okay with her decision to sell it in 2006. It wasn\u2019t going to work for them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Going Green<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The second owners are Irving \u2018Irv\u2019 Bailey, financier and founder of Chrysalis Ventures, and Cathy Bailey, a diplomat and former U.S. Ambassador to Latvia. They completely renovated, but carefully preserved, Faraway, with its floorboards of fir and paneling fashioned from underwater cypress. What a challenge to update this estate without ruining it!<\/span><\/p>\n

A Legend Reborn<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I sold Faraway to the Baileys, there was no electricity, only gaslights,\u201d Litchfield says. \u201cThe Coltons had a small generator for the vacuum cleaner or hairdryer\u2013 that was it. Solar power now drives a huge generator. <\/span>There are no electric bills at all.It\u2019s off the grid, yet fully functional.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The finishes and \u201cthe architectural integrity\u201d transport you to Edwardian times. \u201cAnd some furniture is original, including a Stickley dining room table and chairs that were designed for the house.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe living room, dining room, entry foyer, and library all have large granite fireplaces, as do many of the seven bedrooms. The large, floor-to-ceiling living room fireplace was made of native pink granite boulders with a long granite mantel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked for the source of the granite, she says, \u201cThe fireplaces are all beach stones, probably right from the island. There\u2019s 1,600 feet of waterfront because it is<\/em> Eastern Point\u2013all stone and ledge. I\u2019m sure the stones are from here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Navigational Landmark<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Faraway is so beloved to passing yachts that \u201cold charts show this house. You\u2019re half a mile from both Northwest Harbor and Southwest Harbor, so it\u2019s private but not far away. It\u2019s a great dock, fairly protected.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked about her favorite place, Litchfield says, \u201cThe porches are wonderful because some are open and some are enclosed,\u201d offering beauty whatever the weather, including mesmerizing views of the 130-foot pier.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Generational Retreat<\/strong><\/span>
\nChildren will be wild for \u201cthe tree house. There\u2019s a huge swing. There are enormous copper beeches. It would be a great house for a large family or a family that\u2019s going to come and go and wants peace and quiet, but also vibrant access to Northeast and Southwest Harbor.\u201d <\/span>So, do you dare? This stunner will forever be embody the golden age of Mt. Desert. <\/span><\/p>\n

Priced the highest of the three homes we\u2019re featuring, it has the lowest taxes: $24,053.34.<\/span><\/p>\n

Romantic Rockport<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Listed for $7.5M on Beauchamp Point in Rockport, this completely restored seaside bungalow at No. 99
\nCalderwood Lane <\/strong>soars at ocean\u2019s edge with its 1904 styling.<\/span><\/p>\n

When this structure was going up, so were the Wright Brothers with their Wright Flyer II at Kitty Hawk.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since then, this nostalgic cottage\u2013thoroughly modernized\u2013has really taken off.<\/p>\n

A Gift of Joy<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The house was built by Edward Bok, editor-in-chief of the Ladies\u2019 Home Journal<\/em>, and his wife, Mary, for \u201ctheir daughter as a wedding present,\u201d says realtor Scott Horty.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mary Curtis Bok was the sole heiress of Portland\u2019s print magnate Cyrus Curtis, who published the Ladies\u2019 Home Journal<\/em>. As editor of Ladies\u2019 Home Journal<\/em>, Edward ignited world interest in the \u2018home-as-castle\u2019 with his advocacy of domestic architecture. In fact, Bok coined the term \u201cliving room\u201d (in a feature called \u201cThe Living Room is Born), and the Ladies\u2019 Home Journal <\/em>turned the \u201cbungalow\u201d style into a worldwide rage. According to Theodore Roosevelt, Edward was \u201cthe only man I ever heard of who changed, for the better, the architecture of an entire nation, and he did it so quickly and effectively that we didn\u2019t know it was begun until it was finished.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Born in Holland, Edward won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for biography for his The Americanization of Edward Bok: The Autobiography of a Dutch Boy Fifty Years Later<\/em>. \u201cThe Boks were significant philanthropists in Camden,\u201d says Scott Horty. \u201cBoks still own an adjacent property.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Near and Dear<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Surrounded by lichen-stained stone walls, this luxury cottage is an eye-popping point of departure, with 358 feet of bold waterfront, four fireplaces, hardwood floors, cook\u2019s kitchen, central air, more decks than an ocean liner, and a 1,900-square-foot green-shingled guest cottage nestled in the trees that\u2019s an architectural attraction all its own. The entire estate\u2019s 1.91 acres include a dock and deeded rights to a stone beach, plus a three-car garage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Try and Beat These Views<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

What really sets it apart: The sweeping decks look out to bright blue views of the islands. Built-ins include a hardwood covered ceiling in a salon, as well as a library with paneling, window seat, built-in arches, and ceiling medallions. There\u2019s a spacious feel here, with 5,470 square feet, four bedrooms, and 4.5 baths.<\/span><\/p>\n

Come Outside<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Nestled in woodsy surroundings, this sheltering getaway offer priceless privacy. For a lucky couple on the porch swing\u2013with views of Hog Cove Ledge, and in the smoky distance, North Haven Island\u2013time stops.<\/span><\/p>\n

Taxes are $61,674.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seaside Seclusion<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Walnuts<\/strong> is a 1900 Shingle Style masterpiece designed by John Calvin Stevens for Arthur Homer, the younger brother of Winslow Homer. It\u2019s steps away from the studio where Winslow Homer painted Weatherbeaten<\/em>. Talk about shelter from the storm\u2013and prying eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never been inside,\u201d says author Earle Shettleworth, Jr., a rarity for a scholar who keeps exacting files on all John Calvin Stevens houses as part of his research. The road is blocked off to discourage random passersby. And a private police \u201cforce\u201d patrols the neighborhood to enforce the privacy.<\/span><\/p>\n

But who wouldn\u2019t want to crack the secrets of this walnut, with .87 acres directly on the ocean with its own sandy beach?<\/p>\n

A Sneak Peek Inside<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A sweeping deck with gallery looks to the rocks and islands in the distance. Too much breeze? Duck into a covered porch that turns a corner, with a rustic tongue-in-groove ceiling.<\/span><\/p>\n

Views from the massive living room telescope through a large picture window framed by dark beams below a coffered wood-and-plaster ceiling. The Walnuts boasts three fireplaces, one of which, in the library, features a brick and tile hearth surrounded by pickled paneling. The dining room has a bank of windows with views up the coast. Striking green crown molding and trim set off the white walls. <\/span><\/p>\n

Dining room too formal? Try the breakfast room with casement windows that let the salty breeze in, with views to forever. The pickled paneling is carried on here, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ten bedrooms give the house a bit of that twentieth-century dormitory feel that used to be so popular. <\/span><\/p>\n

A Real Classic<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Still, of all the roughly 18 Stevens designs out here, The Walnuts may be the most evocative. It\u2019s accurate to think of it as the fruition of the first blush of the Homer connection to Maine, because it was young Arthur who convinced his brothers, and his parents, to come up from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and see the part of Maine he\u2019d fallen in love with.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe three brothers, Winslow, Charles Jr., and Arthur, went to John Calvin Stevens. Each commissioned Stevens to do a cottage,\u201d Shettleworth says. \u201cWinslow\u2019s was called Kettle Cove. The one for Charles Jr. is absolutely unaltered. The third one is The Walnuts. That\u2019s largely unchanged as well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the neighborhood, see the August 2017 story \u201cInside Maine\u2019s Exclusive Prouts Neck Community\u201d in The Wall Street Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Taxes are $82,526.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

February\/March 2018
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