Living Large: Rooms with a View
Photograph by Jim Abts
After a disappointing scouting trip to a Brookline abode I’d seen online, Realtor
Deborah Gordon offered to take me on a journey to Chestnut Hill to check out 25 Moorfield Road. Along the way, we saw some of Brookline’s greatest real estate hits, including John Henry’s mother-of-all-McMansions and the 20-plus-acre estate owned by the ex-wife of Lotus founder Mitch Kapor. The final destination was a breath of fresh air. The home may be 8,298 square feet, but thanks to cleverly scaled rooms and plenty of custom touches — a Jerusalem stone entrance, magnificently carved interior doors — it doesn’t feel cavernous. Gordon guessed that with the cost of the land, the owners sank about $12 million into building out the property, and it shows — from the enormous sauna and the cook’s kitchen to the California-style landscaping. Nearly every room has a bucolic Hammond Pond view, making it the perfect spot for a staycation. Because with the monthly $28,000 mortgage payment, who could afford to travel?
Address: 25 Moorfield Rd., Chestnut Hill.
Listing Price: $6,995,000.
Listing Agent: Deborah Gordon, Coldwell Banker, 617-731-2447, newenglandmoves.com.
Stats: Four bedrooms, five full baths, one half bath, and garage parking for three cars.
Art on Demand
Calling all armchair curators: Now you can buy prints and original artwork from museums and galleries nationwide on artspace.com. ICA enthusiasts can start with a $5,000 limited-edition photo of the museum under construction, or snag a print from famed tattoo artist Dr. Lakra, who showed there in 2010. artspace.com.
Norm!
Wondering what happened to Obama’s Vineyard hangout, which went up for sale in September? Well, the Blue Heron Farm in Chilmark sold in November to British starchitect Lord Norman Foster and his wife, Elena Ochoa, a Fulbright-winning art-book publisher. Perhaps Foster fell for New England’s charms while working on the recent MFA addition?
Photo by Jim Abts