Either-Or: A Fanciful Tudor vs. a Contemporary Condo

It’s amazing what a few miles will do to the market. This month, we compare a storybook waterfront home in Manchester-by-the-Sea with a polished townhouse in Cambridge. 


Kristin Francoeur, By the Sea Sotheby’s International Realty (Manchester); courtesy of Roland Rambaud and Chris Young, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage (Cambridge)

33
Coolidge Point, Manchester-by-the-Sea
Sale Price: $1,500,00052 Grozier Road, Cambridge
$2,200,000
154
4,421 square feet
7
4
Asking Price
Days on Market
Size
Bedrooms
Bathrooms
$1,395,000
41
2,030 square feet
4
2

Two architectural styles, two very different homes. The first, a 1900 Tudor at the tip of Manchester-by-the-Sea’s Coolidge Point, revels in ornamentation, with a unique roofline, leaded windows, and turquoise-tinted half-timbering. Inside, crown molding and soaring ceilings with exposed beams dazzle—but not as much as the plentiful ocean views and deeded beach access. All of this for $700,000 under asking price? It makes sense when you consider the property was part of a package deal with the sprawling 7,800-square-foot manse next door, purchased for $6.25 million.

The second home, built 80 years later, forgoes ornate details in favor of angles and lines. The sleek Cambridge townhouse boasts huge windows and an open floor plan, not to mention two bedrooms with balconies and a third-floor loft leading to a roof deck. While there are three fewer bedrooms than in the Tudor and no water vistas, the place does have more than 2,000 square feet of living space—a rarity for a condo. No wonder it got scooped up for $105,000 over asking price.