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Atypical Abode: The Balcastle

Posted June 5, 2010 by Matthew Denton

It can be yours for a very high price

If you want a piece of history and a touch of real estate opulence, be prepared to spend a lot for this property. The Balcastle is a historic limestone home in Southampton , NY that has stood for more than a century. But designer Bill Sofield who currently owns the house is ready to give it up. In an interview with the New York Times , he explains, “I have a habit of finding houses that are on the brink of destruction. It’s really like a benign eyesore.”
For an architect who has been working with Tom Ford all these years, I couldn’t believe that the small castle hurts his eyes. A bit of history for you: the NYT states, “The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was built by J. Edward Elliston. The high ceilings and oversized windows accommodated his 7-foot-4-inch frame. The property includes a gazebo used as a pool house and for putting up guests. Mr. Sofield said that a past owner, a Bulova heiress, housed bear cubs there in the 1930s. One of the cubs eventually found its way to a taxidermist; Mr. Sofield kept it on display.”
And its history is admired by many. The National Register has included the house in its growing list of historic places in New York in 1986. Recently, it was included in a house tour last May that benefited Southampton Historical Museums and Research Center. For $75 to $90, visitors were lucky to admire the interiors of the Gothic property.
Now listed by Brown Harris Stevens for $4.25 million, the 2,500 sq. ft. 4BR abode is described by the firm as “extraordinary property offers unusually high ceilings and overscaled windows exquisitely detailed with hand-carved mullions and traceries. The main level consists of a charming old-world kitchen with secluded breakfast terrace, spacious formal dining and living rooms. All central living spaces boast floors of intricate hemlock parquet and lead to a spiral staircase in the main tower.”
But just as grandiose as its description, I’m not in the position to readily pay for this property anytime soon. I guess an avid multimillionaire historian or an eccentric property investor can easily close the deal for this charming abode. Perhaps, his sons would be playing Dungeons and Dragons all day literally.
It’s a fancy catch, really. In the post by Ian Ratner of Curbed.com , he describes the Balcastle: “Instead of master bedrooms, we have ‘master chambers’; instead of hardwood floors, we have ‘cobbled floors’; and instead of cabanas we have ‘Gothic Revival follies.’”

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