Original Devon Colony mansion lists for the first time, asking $18M

An Amagansett mansion that’s been in one family for four generations is hitting the market for the first time, asking $18 million — just over $1 million per bedroom.

Cincinnati banker William Stanhope Rowe had the 13,000-square-foot home built in 1909 as a summer retreat for his family, according to the Wall Street Journal.

It was one of the original homes of the Devon Colony — a group of mansions built by wealthy businessmen in the early 1900s along with what is now the Devon Yacht Club.

The main house at 2 Ocean View Lane has 17 bedrooms and its layout has largely been kept as it was first designed. The kitchen was renovated in the 1980s. Some light fixtures and the fireplaces are original.

(Sotheby’s International Realty)

The home sits on about four acres on a hill with views of the Atlantic Ocean and Gardiners Bay. Another five acres of preservation land across the street is included as well.

The grounds include a three-bedroom guest house, a tennis court, a swimming pool and a hot tub.

The owners are five siblings who inherited the house in 1996. One of them, Lucy Mackall Sachs, said they are selling the house because they don’t visit as often as they used to.

The median sales price in Amagansett climbed to just under $3 million in the third quarter of this year, a 45.3 percent increase over the third quarter of 2020. As of October, Amagansett was the nation’s 37th-most expensive zip code by home price.

A vacant 9.4-acre beachfront parcel in the hamlet sold for $16.5 million over the summer.

The area is also home to some architectural homes. A Charles Gwathmey-designed modernist-style residence near the hamlet’s beach sold for $9.3 million in April.

Designer Tony Melillo and husband Lance Miletich listed their modernist beach house there for $5.8 million in late September.

[WSJ] — Dennis Lynch