Estate of legendary actress returns to market with new price
Old Saybrook, Conn. (May 24, 2014) — William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realtytoday announced that the company has listed the Katharine Hepburn estate as the property of the legendary actress returns to the market. Essex agent Colette Harron has the listing, which is located in Old Saybrook, Conn. and offered at $14,800,000.
The property previously came to the market in 2011 with a listing price of $18,000,000 for the home on a 1 ½-acre Long Island Sound-front lot, or $28,000,000 for the home as well as two adjoining waterfront lots for a total of 3 ½ acres. After having been off the market for over a year, the home has just been relisted without the two additional lots. Owner Frank Sciame, the founder of Sciame Construction, is currently building a beach house for his family on one and securing approvals to build another home on the other.
Hepburn and her family constructed the home in 1939, and the actress used it as a summer retreat for the next 65 years. With over 8,000 square feet on three floors, the house includes six bedrooms, seven and a half baths, and seven fireplaces. Living spaces include living and dining rooms that overlook the Sound and a pond, a kitchen with AGA stove and Sub-Zero refrigerator, den, chart room, potting room, pantry and laundry room. The grounds include a sandy beach and dock on the Sound for boating access to the Hamptons, less than an hour away. Visitors can land seaplanes in front of the house, as aviator Howard Hughes did in the 1930s and 1940s. A two-car garage completes the offering.
Sciame, who has handled the restoration of New York City landmarks such as the Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum, Central Synagogue and the Guggenheim Museum, oversaw the renovation of the Hepburn Estate in 2005. The project included raising the three-story long brick structure five feet, which adequately protected it from the Sound during Hurricanes Irene and Sandy, installing new systems, expanding the home to create light-filled rooms while preserving the original historical integrity, and incorporating oversized windows, coffered ceilings and built-in cabinetry.
“The historic Katharine Hepburn home remains the quintessential family estate, featuring an extraordinary renovation that maintains its legacy,” said Harron. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to market this most prized and cherished possession of one of our culture’s most important icons.”
The property is located within the Old Saybrook borough of Fenwick, a historic community of 83 homes located where the Long Island Sound meets the Connecticut River. Hepburn designated more than three adjacent acres to remain open, assuring privacy and unobstructed views in perpetuity.
About William Pitt and Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty
Founded in 1949, William Pitt and Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty manages a $3.3-billion-plus portfolio with more than 1,000 sales associates in 26 brokerages spanning Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Westchester County, New York. William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, combined with partner firm Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty, is the largest Sotheby’s International Realty(R) affiliate globally, the third-fastest-growing real estate company nationally, and the 23rd-largest real estate company by sales volume in the United States. A full-service real estate firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, William Pitt and Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty provides ancillary services including commercial services through its affiliation with Building and Land Technology, a second-generation development company based in Stamford, Connecticut; William Pitt Insurance Services; and an award-winning global relocation division. For more information, visit the website at williampitt.com.
Sotheby’s International Realty’s worldwide network includes more than 14,000 sales associates located in 700 offices throughout the United States and 50 other countries and territories.
William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty Contact:
Andrew Wood
Director of Content
William Pitt and Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty
Frank J. Sciame
Sciame Construction, LLC
14 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005
212-232-2200
