Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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The resT of The besT new england's dream homes range from $15 million to $59 million, from Weston to the islands. 260 PoLPis RoaD, nantucKet Price: $59 million Owner: Swaineck Realty Trust Year Built: 2000 Bedrooms: 9 Bathrooms: 9 full, 1 half Total Square Feet: 10,364 Acreage: 68.6 acres Winning Investment Because: To get to the house, you must drive through a barn, over a bridge, and onto a peninsula into the harbor. The living room boasts a showstopping curved stairway, vaulted ceilings, and too many windows to count. A separate office/studio has a vaulted cathedral ceiling. Broker: Gary Winn, Sotheby's International Realty, 508-330-3069 30 oRange st., nantucKet Price: $20,000,000 Owner: 30 Orange Street Trust Year Built: 1823 Bedrooms: 8 Bathrooms: 8 full, 2 half Total Square Feet: 7,211 Acreage: 0.29 Winning Investment Because: This gorgeous home with harbor and town views is one of the highest structures on the island. It has a formal English garden rimmed by boxwood, rose gardens, and a privet hedge. Each of the five bedrooms on the second floor has a fireplace, as do the dining room, living room, reception, library, and drawing room. Broker: Gary Winn, Sotheby's International Realty, 508-330-3069, ext. 115 63 WinsoR WaY, Weston Price: $19,500,000 Owner: James Benson, Clark Benson LLC Year Built: 2001 Bedrooms: 6 Bathrooms: 8 full, 2 half Total Square Feet: 21,926 Acreage: 4.63 Winning Investment Because: This Georgian Revival mansion's eye- catching bluestone patio overlooks four acres of lush grounds including tennis courts. The entrance is out of this world—you drive up to a stunning stone courtyard. The wrought-iron double staircase is fit for Daisy Buchanan herself. Broker: Paige Yates, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, 617-733-9885 25 LincoLn ave., nantucKet Price: $19,995,000 Owner: One Indian Ave LLC Year Built: 2008 Bedrooms: 7 Bathrooms: 9 full, 3 half Total Square Feet: 9,000 Acreage: 0.79 Winning Investment Because: The master suite of this shingled beach manse on Nantucket features a bath with Calcutta gold marble and Venetian plaster, twin dressing rooms, and its own washer and dryer. It has a wine cellar, and the pool is spectacular— trimmed in stone with an infinity-style edge spilling over one end. Broker: Gary Winn, Sotheby's International Realty, 508-330-3069 306 DaRtmoutH st., bacK baY Price: $18,000,000 Owner: Reality Realty Trust Year Built: 1872 Bedrooms: 10 Total Square Feet: 26,000 Acreage: 0.25 Winning Investment Because: The 50-room Ames-Webster mansion was designed by Frank Sinatra slept here P eter Roy and his Canadian-born wife, Leah, were looking for a home in the suburbs of Boston when they came across a Cohasset house that had been serving as the corporate office for Yankee Oil & Gas. It was a sagging, ivy- covered, brick 20,000-square-foot Georgian Revival mansion, and the home's enormous second floor had been converted to a single wide-open room with rows of desks—the workers called it the "bull pen." Still, Roy, who grew up in Newton and made his fortune as cofounder of Hingham-based Intercontinental Energy Corp., saw potential in the 1930s-era home. He and his wife paid $3 million for the property in 1989. The Roys, who divide their time between Cohasset and Toronto, dra- matically transformed the property into a 45-room manse over the last 20-plus years. The couple redecorated the first-floor reception rooms and designed a second floor with a three-room master suite, seven addi- tional bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a laundry room. On the third floor, there's a rec room and two more bed- rooms and bathrooms. The basement includes a media room with a massive stone fireplace, a proper English-style pub, bil- liards room with wet bar, children's playroom, and an exercise room with sauna. It has a glamorous history: For more than 60 years it had been owned by the Bancroft/ Barron/Cox family, founders of Dow Jones & Company and The Wall Street Journal. Hugh " It feels very ethereal when you're on those grounds—and it all opens up to the water. " Bancroft, Clarence Barron's son-in-law, built the current estate in the 1930s, and when he passed away, Barron's granddaughter, Jessie Bancroft Cox, inherited it. Bancroft Cox loved to throw fabulous parties, and she would often host the acts traveling through town with the South Shore Music Circus. Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, and Liberace all slept here, President Calvin Coolidge and his wife lunched here, and Ronald Reagan visited the property before he was elected. "It feels very ethereal when you're on those grounds," says Robb Silva, an agent with William Raveis in Boston, who has played tennis at the home. "There is a wrought-iron fence surrounding the property, giant old oak trees, beautiful topiary gardens—and it all opens up to the water." The Roys were buying more than a house. They were buying a nine-acre peninsula with 1,800 square feet of private oceanfront, a private beach, and a deepwater dock. This property allowed Roy to buy most of the land around the harbor, including the Cohasset Harbor Inn, two restaurants, and the Mill River Marina. Plus, the couple liked its proximity to Cohasset Village, and their three children could swim by the private beach, push a kayak into the water, or have ice cream parties by the pond. In 2010, the Roys put The Oaks, as they called it, on the market for $44.9 million, which includes the restored 20,000-square-foot mansion, plus the portfolio of properties described above. (You can buy the home separately for $22.2 million.) While they were careful to preserve the architectural details of the estate's formal spaces—think acanthus-leaf crown molding, double-paneled mahogany doors—the Roys wanted to modernize the house and provide casual spaces for their children to enjoy. In 2006 they added a family room wing extension including an expansive 17-by-35-foot family kitchen with antique white maple base custom cabinetry and a large maple center island with seating. The cooking space opens onto a gymna- sium-size 24-by-34-foot family room with a cross-beamed wood ceiling and spectacular views of the harbor and the ocean beyond from vertical picture windows; it's where the new owner might spend as much time watching sports as surveying the vast property and the nearby sea. Jonathan Radford, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, 617-335-1010 bostoncommon-magazine.com 115 PHotogRaPHY bY Ron LYncH (25 LincoLn, 260 PoLPis, 30 oRange); James abts (tHe oaKs); Diane anton (63 WinsoR); Kent eaRLe (52 sHiPs eagLe)