#1 Wooldon manor
Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s
$98 million
ize matters when it comes to property…or at least a property’s price tag. The higher the cost of a home, the more buzz it seems to generate. It’s not just the dollar signs that inspire interest, however, but the little extras that those dollars dictate. It could be a football field’s worth of waterfront or a rich history or a Richard Gere. Whatever particularly strikes your fancy, at least one of the five most expensive Hamptons homes on the market must have it.
1 WOOldOn manOr
southampton. On the market for $98,000,000
what makes this listing so enviable is not just the house but the land it’s on—15 oceanfront acres in Southampton don’t come along very often. And it’s not just the 15 acres, but the potential they offer. Aside from the 5.25acre lot that the mansion is on, the remaining acres are subdivided into four buildable lots. One can imagine the possibilities for the right buyer: keep the land undeveloped as a private park, start a family compound…or let the next owner figure it all out. There’s a recent history of that sort—this property was just purchased only last December for $75,000,000.
2 VIlla marIa Water mill. On the market for $69,000,000
This classic Gin Lane oceanfront estate comes with a history. Built in the 1920s for the Woolworth family (whence the name “Wooldon Manor”), and later owned by Merrill Lynch founding partner Edmund C. Lynch, this Tudor-style mansion boasts 10 bedrooms and 12 full bathrooms. Period details include limestone floors and custom bronze doors, and most of the bedrooms give direct access to exterior terraces and lawns. The grounds feature formal gardens, a magnificent pool and pool house, a picturesque greenhouse, and a tennis court. At 12,800 square feet, Wooldon Manor is not enormous by contemporary standards, but 14 | May 2014
Villa Maria is among the more visible estates in the Hamptons, with its wrought iron gates and white stucco walls standing right next to Montauk Highway as it rounds the bend heading into Water Mill. An estate like this one would require an owner who didn’t mind the visibility of such a location, and also might favor a buyer with a taste for history. Villa Maria’s past is even more involved than that of Wooldon Manor. The property was originally developed in the late 1800s by a group of
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