Katharine Hepburn’s former waterfront Connecticut estate sells for $11.5M
The Old Saybrook, Connecticut home where Katharine Hepburn lived until her death in 2003 has sold for $11.5 million, according to the Post. New York-based developer and builder Frank Sciame paid $6 million for the 3.4-acre waterfront estate in 2004, first listing it for $14.8 million in 2014. The 8,368-square-foot home, built in 1939, sits on 1.5 acres and overlooks a private pond and 220 feet of secluded Long Island Sound beachfront. It also has another claim to fame–in the 1930s and ’40s, Howard Hughes would land his seaplane on the property’s private dock.
Hepburn’s parents bought the residence here in 1913, but it was destroyed by a hurricane in 1938, so Katharine had it rebuilt the following year. It was mainly used as the family’s summer home, but the Oscar-winning actress eventually retired there.
A decade after buying the home, at 10 Mohegan Avenue, Sciame dropped $290,000 at auction for the Old Saybrook Breakwater Lighthouse, which is within walking distance to the estate. As 6sqft previously reported, “the 131-year-old lighthouse was built in 1886 to mark a sand bar on the west side of the Connecticut River.” The Post tells us that he’s now in contract to buy a large waterfront compound at the foot of the lighthouse that was last listed for $6.9 million.
Sciame also owns the adjacent 6 Mohegan Drive, a three-bedroom home built in 2015 that’s currently on the market for $6.88 million and could be used as a guest cottage for the Hepburn estate, as well as a vacant lot that he doesn’t plan to sell.
The 15-room house was renovated in 2006 and now boasts a modern nautical style that translates to the whitewashed brick facade.
Throughout, there are seven gas fireplaces, coffered ceilings, and custom built-ins.
The kitchen features custom cabinetry, a large center island, and marble counters
Off the main living space is a screened-in blue stone porch.
Upstairs, a multi-vaulted ceiling leads to the six bedrooms.
The home is located at the eastern tip of Fenwick, a small private community of just 83 homes that provides access to a golf course, tennis courts, and boating.
In addition to the home’s 1.5 acres, three adjacent acres were designated by Hepburn herself to remain forever undeveloped. They’re managed by the Lynde Point Land Trust, which guarantees the new owners will maintain their privacy and unobstructed views.
[Via NYP]
[Listing: 10 Mohegan Avenue by Jennifer Caulfield and Jane Pfeffer of William Pitt Julia B Fee Sotheby’s International Realty]
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Photos courtesy of William Pitt Julia B Fee Sotheby’s International Realty
