The Linden Estate in Southampton Village, one of the most expensive properties on the market in the Hamptons, has found a buyer.
Harald Grant of Sotheby’s International Realty, who has the co-exclusive with Tim Davis of the Corcoran Group, reported the park-like property on Ox Pasture Road went into contract this week. The last asking price was $69.95 million.
The property was rented for the summer, so perhaps the tenant loved the property so much that they made an offer? We hear a closing is expected this fall.
Though the Linden Estate has been on the market several times in the last decade or so, it was most recently listed in late 2020 for $75 million.
The traditional-style manor house with its recognizable red-tile gambrel roof spans 18,000 square feet, sits on nearly 10 acres in the exclusive estate section, and even has two pools, including one indoors.
Unique Property
“Very few properties can compare in terms of the acreage, the incredible landscaping, the size of the main residence, and the array of incredible amenities, especially the pool house conservatory,” Grant has said in the past. “Most of all its provenance is nonpareil, from the original architect, Grosvenor Atterbury, to the Frederick Law Olmsted park-like landscape design.”
The estate’s name comes from the specimen trees that line the property and came from Olmsted, the father of landscape architecture who is best known for designing Central Park and the Biltmore Estate.
Atterbury, who spent summers on his family’s 80-acre estate in nearby Shinnecock Hills (a section in Shinnecock Hills is now called the Atterbury Estates) designed the home in 1915.
Today, the grandeur of Atterbury’s design is still evident with many of the authentic details preserved. There is original millwork and massive fireplaces—a total of eight wood-burning fireplaces. A grand hall leads into the main living room with coffered ceilings, where glass doors in the living room provide a picturesque view of the estate with its mature trees, flowering shrubs, evergreen perimeters and rose gardens. In the library, the original oak walls, lined in leather, can be found, along with hand-carved, ornamental plaster ceilings.
Newly added modern amenities include such offerings as an indoor pool, greenhouse, and a turret that houses a gym.
Almost everything for the large French kitchen was custom-made on site. It features a hand-made French La Cornue stove, a farmhouse sink, a large island, a butler’s pantry and exposed wood beams.
There are not one but two 60-by-20-foot pools—one indoors and one outdoors. The indoor ozone lap pool sits under a crystal pavilion and features a playful water slide and waterfall.
The pool outside also has a spa, surrounded by a stone patio. Renowned interior designer Steven Gambrel recently completed a pool pavilion.
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Outdoors is a recreational retreat with a grass tennis court, a paddle court and two pavilions with full kitchens, and arbors. A huge fountain lights up at night.
Despite speculations that the property sold to Netscape founder Jim H. Clark, it is still owned by Juergen Friedrich, former executive of Esprit, and his wife, Anke Beck-Friedrich, who transferred it into a holding company’s name.
The Friedrichs purchased the Linden Estate for about $8.5 million in 2002, according to Curbed Hamptons. In 2008, they listed it for $60 million and eventually rented the property, reportedly at the price of $850,000 per month, according to Business Insider. It later popped back up on the market in 2013 for about $45 million.
The Linden Estate Sale’s Place for 2022
Where the Linden Estate transaction will land on the list of tops Hamptons sales this year remains to be seen.
So far in 2022, the crown belongs to the $84.5 million sale of the 8.5-acre estate on Lily Pond Lane in East Hampton that belonged to Ron Perelman, the embattled chairman and chief executive of MacAndrews & Forbes, which most notably oversees Revlon.
Next up is the sale of two properties on Tyson Lane in Amagansett owned by designer Helmut Lang in March. They totaled a combined $67.5 million.
If the Linden Estate closes in the ballpark of the asking price, it would fall above the current third-place holder, an oceanfront home on three acres at 7 Fairfield Pond Lane in Sagaponack that sold for $50 million in January.
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