Photo courtesy of William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty
A waterfront Stamford home designed by the same architects whose work inspired “The Great Gatsby” has broken a sale price record for the area, the listing agent’s brokerage announced.
William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty said in a statement that 123 Saddle Rock Road sold for $7.5 million, the highest-ever sale for a residential waterfront property in the city in the last 18 years and the second-highest in the city’s history. The brokerage cited statistics provided by the statewide SmartMLS listings service.
The sale was handled by listing agents Robert Blosio and Larry Palma from the company’s New Canaan brokerage.
The home was built in 1914 by Richard Howland Hunt and Joseph Howland Hunt – the architect brothers behind Beacon Towers in Sands Point, Long Island, once owned by William Randolph Hearst and the inspiration for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby.” The home was originally built for the inventor Thomas Robins, best known for creating the rubber conveyor belt at Thomas Edison’s labs. The home is also locally well known as the “Bear House” for the large bear statue that introduces the property at its gated entry.
“It’s been a great honor to participate in such a significant part of Stamford’s history,” Blosio and Palma said in a joint statement. “This is a property that blends the essence of timeless design by a renowned architect with touches of reimagined elegance and modern sophistication. Working on the sale of this true legacy waterfront estate has proven a highly rewarding experience.”
Crafted with ashlar quarried stone and a Belgian slate roof, and designed with circular arches framing doorways and windows, the home was recently updated to include a new kitchen with custom cabinets and granite counters, “smart home” technology, a temperature-controlled wine cellar and custom tilt-and-turn windows. The property also has a heated saltwater pool with large, covered stone grotto, pool deck with cabana, boat launch, specimen gardens and fountains, a lighted tennis court, a stone guest cottage and a Bonsai tree at the peninsula’s tip.
