While many homebuyers prefer a brand new or newly renovated home, others seek to take up residence in a home that’s already infused with the patina of time and oozes with the ethereal mystery of previous occupants. One such home, the 154-year-old Hurst Pierrepont Estate, almost 60 miles north of midtown Manhattan in historic and bucolic Garrison, N.Y., is available for a history-minded (and well financed) buyer, at $4.95 million. A fine example of early reconstruction period, the rambling, Gothic villa contains upward of eight bedrooms and more than six bathrooms in close to 11,000 square feet over four floors.
Designed by noted American architect Alexander Jackson Davis, who helped create Llewellyn Park in West Orange, N.J., one of the earliest planned suburbs in the United States, the house was completed in 1867 and built for U.S. Ambassador to England and former New York state and U.S. Attorney General Edwards Pierrepont as his country home. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and has been in the same hands since the mid 1990s when it was last purchased at close to $1.7 million.
A deep porch adds relaxed informality to the imposing and symmetrical front façade, and the humble masonry exterior belies extravagant interior spaces with 12-foot ceilings, diamond pane windows and exquisitely detailed custom millwork. The central entrance hall features a dynamite keyhole staircase; the ample living and dining rooms, both with antique carved-stone fireplaces, are proportioned for graceful entertaining. More casual spaces include several cozy sitting rooms and an updated, if slightly scruffy, kitchen that opens to a family room warmed by a gigantic wood stove. A small home theater is squirreled down in the basement, while the mansion’s central tower stands four floors above ground and holds two bedrooms, each dominated a huge circular window.
The serene estate, available through Craig Watters at Coldwell Banker Realty, additionally offers a small pond, a secluded swimming pool complex and acres of unspoiled woodland in which to ramble about.