West Tisbury, Mass.
WHAT An 1840s converted church and house with a total of three bedrooms and three bathrooms
HOW MUCH $1.675 million
SIZE 2,714 square feet
PRICE PER SQUARE FOOT $617
SETTING This home is on a winding residential road on Martha’s Vineyard, a short walk from the picturesque Lambert’s Cove Beach, which is open only to town residents and their guests. It is about five miles from the community of Vineyard Haven, where there are stores, restaurants, galleries and theaters.
INDOORS This former United Methodist church and parsonage underwent a three-year renovation by its current owners, a designer and general contractor who run the firms Reconstructure and Neal Estate. The 1,523-square-foot church retains many of its original details, including clapboard siding, pine floors, restored windows and tin ceilings. There is a large, open room for living, dining and sleeping, with a wood stove and a wall of built-in cabinets that conceals a kitchenette. There is a bathroom with shiplap paneling, wood floors made from repurposed pews, a circular free-standing soaking tub, and a vanity and shower finished with Vermont Danby marble. The tower has a functioning bell.
Steps away, the 1,191-square-foot house has been completely overhauled, including the addition of a new walkout basement and radiant heating on all floors. The kitchen has concrete counters, custom cabinets, stainless steel appliances and a long island, and is open to a living-and-dining area with a wood stove under a vaulted ceiling. One bedroom and one bathroom are on the ground floor. A steel staircase with cables and open wood treads leads to the second floor, where there is another bedroom with built-in cabinetry and a bathroom.
OUTDOOR SPACE The house sits on a rolling 0.76-acre lot with grass, trees and flowering plants. There is a granite patio behind the house, as well as two sheds, one with an outdoor shower.
Continue reading the main storyTAXES $5,772 a year
CONTACT Dee Moyer, Wallace & Co. Sotheby’s International Realty, 773-551-4364; wallacemv.com
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Calabasas, Calif.
WHAT A 1966 house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms
HOW MUCH $1.695 million
SIZE 1,876 square feet
PRICE PER SQUARE FOOT $904
SETTING This house is in Monte Nido, a community of a few hundred houses in the hills above Malibu. Saddle Peak Lodge restaurant is a short walk away, and Malibu Creek State Park, offering more than 8,000 acres of grassy plains and craggy peaks, is nearby. The house is about six miles from the Pacific Coast Highway, and about 35 miles from downtown Los Angeles.
INDOORS This low-slung midcentury-modern house was designed by the architect Doug Rucker and is currently owned by a couple working on a monograph about his work. It was thoughtfully renovated by the architect David Hertz about 10 years ago, and now has a new kitchen and bathrooms. The L-shaped post-and-beam house, which has vertical siding and clerestory windows, is reached by a driveway with an electronic gate.
The ground floor is open plan, with walls of windows looking out to moss-covered boulders and trees. The kitchen has maple cabinets, stainless steel appliances and thick counters made from Syndecrete, a concrete-like material invented by Mr. Hertz. There is a peninsula with room for stools leading to a dining area, and steps down to the living room, which has a fireplace in a half-height wall and an office nook behind.
The bedrooms are in a separate wing and have simple redwood paneling. The master suite is two steps down and has a wall of built-in closets with cedar interiors and a bathroom with a double Syndecrete vanity and a shower tiled in the same material. From the bedroom, a glass door opens to an ipe deck with a trickling waterfall wall.
OUTDOOR SPACE The 0.83-acre lot includes a multilevel deck at the back of the house, with openings to accommodate trees. Steps lead down to a garden of rocks and pebbles, and a sitting area with a firepit. There is a patio at the front of the house, along with raised vegetable gardens, in between a detached 378-square-foot studio and a detached two-car garage.
TAXES About $21,188 a year
CONTACT Brian Linder, Deasy/Penner, 310-592-5417; deasypenner.com
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Boothbay, Me.
WHAT A 1769 house with three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms, and a separate cottage with one bedroom and one and a half bathrooms
HOW MUCH $1.75 million
SIZE 3,498 square feet
PRICE PER SQUARE FOOT $500
SETTING This house is on the edge of the hamlet of East Boothbay, where there is a marina, boat builder, general store and lobster restaurant. It is about three miles to Boothbay Harbor, a town with boutiques, restaurants and boat tour operators. The city of Portland is about 60 miles away.
INDOORS This Georgian-style house was last owned by historians with an interest in early American architecture, and has Federal, Greek Revival and Egyptian Revival elements added at various times during the past two and a half centuries. It is organized around a center chimney with five fireplaces. The front door opens into a foyer with a staircase and a recently painted mural depicting scenes of the surrounding landscape. The living room is to one side and the formal dining room to the other. An updated kitchen with wood counters and stainless steel appliances is at the back of the house, open to a large keeping room with exposed beams and a paneled fireplace wall. There is also a sunroom. Three bedrooms and two full bathrooms are upstairs, sharing a common hallway.
The shingled exterior of the two-storage cottage, built about 15 years ago, reflects Maine vernacular barn architecture; inside, on the ground floor, there is an open floor plan with pale wood floors, sliding glass doors, a woodstove and a small, open kitchen with a stainless steel counter. The sleeping quarters and a full bathroom are upstairs.
OUTDOOR SPACE The 10.75-acre property has stone walls and walkways, large lawns and extensive gardens planted with day lilies and lavender, as well as a vegetable and fruit garden. There is also a four-acre freshwater pond with its own half-acre island; a large carriage house built in 2002 with seven pairs of arched double doors, used for storage and a workshop; and a barn.
TAXES $9,459 a year
CONTACT Rick Bisson, Bisson Real Estate/Keller Williams Realty, 207-317-0366; bissonrealestate.com
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