Private island mansion with celebrity history and NYC views returns for $8.7M
Back in 2015, 6sqft covered this unusual property. The mansion at Tavern Island is, in fact, on a 2.7-acre private island off the coast of Connecticut. Even cooler is the island’s history: The property’s main house was built in the 1930s and was home to screenwriter Lillian Hellman when she was writing “The Little Foxes,” Mansion Global reports, and theater impresario Billy Rose owned the island in the 1960s and hosted lavish parties for the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Maureen O’Sullivan, and Barbara Streisand. In addition to these epic bragging rights, the new owner of the island will gain a six-bedroom English Colonial mansion dating to 1900, private beach, swimming pool, and a docking area and boat for access the mainland. According to property records, the current owners bought the island for $950,000 in 1981.
Tavern Island was settled in 1651 by the colonial English, making it through the British invasion of Norwalk, CT in the Revolutionary War. It later became a key landmark for harbor pilots, guiding their vessels to land and serving as a spot for captains and crews to enjoy a celebratory drink (hence the name). The property still has an antique cannon that is pointed out to sea.
The island can be quickly accessed year-round by launch from its mainland property at 75 Bluff Avenue, which also gives you a three-car garage, a cottage, extra parking and a modern pier with a deep water dock.
A five-minute boat ride gets you out to your island retreat, where you’ll find the beautifully renovated 6,000-square-foot English manor-style house with breathtaking water views from every room. The three-story house boasts six bedrooms, two offices, a gym, and a steam room. The home’s stonework carries through to the interior, adorning fireplaces and walls.
A boathouse contains a bedroom, bathroom, and a large game room.
In the tea house, sliding doors open onto a wraparound porch. In the pilot house/caretaker’s cottage, you’ll find two bedrooms and two baths, plus a maintenance shed.
Extraordinary perks include a protected stone harbor with a sea wall, stone pier and a floating deep water dock and sandy beaches.
Possibly the coolest part of this property is a 75-foot competition length gunite pool suspended over the water’s edge. It’s all surrounded by a dreamy landscape of indigenous plantings and stone walkways, and you’re an hour from New York City (but you can watch the sun set over the Manhattan skyline from right here.)
[Listing: Tavern Island by Nancy Dauk for Halstead]
[Via Mansion Global]
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Images courtesy of Halstead
