Despite a downturn in home buying, this rare Rockland County property has seen huge interest, with multiple offers over the asking price; here's why.
Bill Cary| For The Journal News
On the market for just over a week, an original Frank Lloyd Wright-designed midcentury house in the Rockland County hamlet of Blauvelt is drawing a huge amount of interest.
“In just nine or 10 days, we’ve had 40 to 45 showings,” says listing agent Richard Ellis, of Ellis Sotheby’s International Realty. “I have six offers so far and I think we’ll probably have another six by this weekend. The offers are going way, way, way above” the asking price of $1.525 million.
Known as the Socrates Zaferiou House, after the original owner,the 2,619-square-foot home has four bedrooms, two full bathrooms and one partial bathroom. It sits on a very private and wooded 2.5-acre lotin the 532-acre Clausland Mountain Park.
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The house is set way back so you don’t see it from the road, Ellis says. “You have a beautiful approach off the road. It’s very secluded and private.”
The modified Usonian-style single-story house, which was built in 1961,offers many of Wright’s signature designs and features, including a flat roof, an L-shaped open floor plan, an oversized masonry fireplace, large window expanses that look out to nature, asymmetrical layouts, wood paneling and Wright’s trademark red flooring. A two-car carport completes the stylish design.
Unlike other Usonian-style houses, this onehas an extra bedroom and a rare walkout basem*nt. “Zaferiou appealed to Wright for two years to approve his site and expanded home style, and finally, this variation of the Usonian-style design was eventually approved by Wright,”according to the listing.
Wright visited the site during construction of the home but passed away in 1959 before it was completed. The project architect for the Guggenheim Museum of Art in New York finished the house.
When the home was listed for sale eight years ago, also with Ellis, it didn’t draw anything like this amount of attention, he remembers. “We had showings, but not an overly abundant amount.”
Interestingly, some of those would-be buyers were talking about doing renovations to the kitchen and bathrooms, Ellis says. “Now everyone is so respectful of Frank Lloyd Wright, and they realize that the house is so valuable because of the condition that it’s been kept in.”
“Everyone is so focused and so knowledgeable about Wright that it’s been such fun to show it,” he adds.
The buyer eight years ago was the interior designerSarah Anderson-Magness, Ellis says. “She has mostly maintained what was there. The house is in very good condition.”
The people looking at the house now are primarily from New York City and Los Angeles, he says.
“I’ve seen more people looking from California” this year at Rockland, Orange and Putnam properties, he says. “These are clients looking here because of the drought and changing weather patterns” in California.
Described by the American Institute of Architect as “greatest American architect of all time,”Wright played an important role in the evolution of mid-century homes
Part of the current appeal for this house is because “it’s a very limited market,” Ellis says. “There are only so many Frank Lloyd Wright houses and none to my knowledge on this side of the Hudson River.”
The kitchen is “original and in immaculate condition,” he says. The only changeAnderson-Magnessmade was to swap out the appliances, and the new cooktop, wall oven and refrigerator are the same size as the old ones, so everything still fits where it’s supposed to.
Aside from the signature red floors in the kitchen and the large mudroom, the rest of the house has wall-to-wall carpeting, “which was pretty standard and this carpet is in good condition,” replaced at least once by the original owner, Ellis says.
As for how much more time buyers have to get their bids in, “we will probably go to highest and best by next weekend,” he says.
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Address:48 Clausland Mountain Road Blauvelt, N.Y.
Price: $1.525 million
Schools:South Orangetown Central
Agents: Richard Ellis and Brandon Wagner, Ellis Sotheby’s International Realty
