You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land called East Hampton, where hydrangeas bloom as big as grapefruit and rose bushes tumble over picket fences. The old shingled house has a signpost up ahead. Your next stop: the Old Money Zone!
Signs of the Old Money Zone: ancient specimen trees that arch over rolling croquet and badminton lawns and inside, restrained good taste. Expect Colefax & Fowler prints on curtains, chairs, and bedclothing, along with scads of antique furniture, and most of all, copious evidence of an educated and moneyed collector.
Indeed, American folk art, majolica, antique hat forms, ironstone, antique bird cages, brass shoes, cranberry glass, and modern and contemporary art were all passions of the late owner of this East Hampton estate, Alice Netter, who passed in July at the age of 87. Gardening was another passion of Netter, as it is easy to see from the photos of the property. According to her obituary in the East Hampton Star, “Her gardens were magnificent, only to be outdone by the floral arrangements she created from them, as centerpieces for her dinner parties.”
She and her attorney husband bought the Jericho Lane estate in 1977. (Mr. Netter passed away in 2009.) Now, their Shingle Style house, built in 1901, and set on 2.4 acres close to the ocean, in East Hampton’s coveted estate section, is available for sale at $17.9 million. Listing agent is James Petrie at Compass.
Anyone looking to channel their new fortune into a stately old-money estate need look no further. The historic house includes a pool and cabana in its lovely park-like grounds. The estate is, in fact, made of two parcels that might possibly be subdivided: 1.3 acres on tony Jericho Lane, plus an additional 1.1-acre vacant parcel that abuts the possibly even tonier Apaquogue Road, site of the legendary Grey Gardens estate.
Sure, the house could use some updates, but…