A 275-year-old home, once the clubhouse for the Riding Club of East Hampton where a young Jacqueline Bouvier learned to ride, has a new owner.
The sale of the property at 9 Cross Highway closed on September 2. It was listed with Dawn Watson and Enzo Morabito of Douglas Elliman Real Estate. While we don’t know exactly what it sold for just yet, the last ask was $1.749 million.
Designer Jackie Astier is the buyer.
Kathleen Zappola and Scott Strough of Compass represented the buyer. “I’m so happy that the property is going from one fashionable Jackie to another, so to speak,” Zappola says. “She and I have been looking for the perfect gem for some time and are so thrilled to have found it.”
The property comes with a rare opportunity to have two houses on one lot. The Cape Cod farmhouse, which dates to 1745, led to 9 Cross Highway being one of about a dozen properties to receive a special historic landmark designation from East Hampton Town in 2017. Aimed at preventing 18th and 19th century homes from being replaced, the special designation allows the owners of these properties to build a second home for a combined square footage of 5,000 square feet between the two homes.
Astier says she plans “to restore the charming gem and keep as many of the original historic features as possible.” She is working with architect Markus Dochantschi of studioMDA “to create twin building additions that pay homage to the original barn while adding more modern living spaces, all while respecting the scale and design of the landmark building.”
Known as the Abraham Baker House, the house was converted into a clubhouse for the Riding Club in 1924. The future Jackie Kennedy Onassis rode on the grounds and went on to become a competitive equestrienne. It is not far from Wildmoor, the home the former First Lady spent summers in as a child and that belonged to her grandfather, John Vernou Bouvier Jr.
“Of course, the aesthetics of the shingle house is synonymous with what we think of today as classic Hamptons style,” says Watson, who spent quite a bit of time on the property since listing it in January for $1.995 million.
“But for me, that wooden shingled roof is everything! Other things that really speak to the time and architectural significance of the house are the two fireplaces, around which the house is anchored, the original wide-plank pumpkin pine floors and some seriously old glass that’s still left in a few of the windows,” she says. “It’s a really special home, and I can’t wait to see how the new owner will restore and revitalize it.”
The house was turned back into a residence in 1943 when the Riding Club was sold. Today, the two-story, shingle-style home has three bedrooms, three full baths and two fireplaces.
While the property straddles the village and town lines, the south-of-the-highway home has an East Hampton Village address and is located just down the street from Two Mile Hollow Beach. It backs up to the village estate section.
The property was originally listed at $2.29 million in early 2020.
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