Tasteful Friends, spend summer and autumn in Maine, just like the Bush family.

Clearly OP, you are also a member of the “For the Love Old Houses” group on Facebook, or either that group pulls from DataLounge. Either scenario is likely.

At any rate, this is one of my favorites. I love the multiple seating areas downstairs and the lack of a pool, because you have an ocean! I love the thought of the housekeeper staying on-site in one of the gorgeous bedrooms. I just wish there was a garage, but I know it would be anachronistic. I would’ve literally died for a multi-level floor plan.

The FB group commented that this area is SUPER crowded though during the summer/tourist season. That would kind of suck.

Only well-moneyed WASPs need apply.

It's perfect and I wouldn't change one thing.

It's a LOT of house, but I love it.

I would enjoy the property during winter also. I would bundle up in flannel pajamas and take a Xanax and a glass of whisky and sit outside in those white chairs.

Wait until the coppers catch up with whoever knocked over the chintz factory.

As recently as 1974 you could buy half of Bar Island for 200K

Absolutely beautiful, so nice to see an old house that hadn’t been stripped bare and hosed down in white paint. I hope whoever buys it doesn’t ruin it.

R5. I’ll sit out there with you, and watch as a Nor’easter comes in.

Of course, it's not as great as Kennebunkport. Whoever buys the house probably started out in life as underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.

Looks like an old folks home. All the furniture has to go and most of the wall coverings. You can almost smell the mold.

The furniture & wall decor should be replaced, but other than that this is a pretty swell house. The ladder railing that runs along the top cabinet level in the kitchen/pantry area is a nice touch.

Well it seems very suburban. I thought something built in 1887 would have more swagger: plaster medallions, moulding, wood carving....

Is this the [italic]Stephen King[/italic] part of Maine?

*shudder*

I like the kitchen. Unfortunately it appears the owner has barfed up buckets of flowers all over the remainder of the home.

This is a "cottage"?? Its huge.

Beautiful house, I cant see anything much I'd change. Love the interior. Its way bigger than I'd need though

[quote]This is a "cottage"??

You've never seen the "summer cottages" in Newport?

R14

Closer to Vera Donovan part of Maine...

Beautiful house I'm usually not a fan of traditional decor but this is done well.

Cottages is an apt description of those grand Newport manses since in their way the things were rather "small".

Despite their size much of the interior spaces were given over to grand rooms meant for entertaining or amusements. Actual number of bedrooms in comparison was often rather small; master suites for husband and wife; if a family had them bedrooms for children, and servants quarters. Not much in the way of guest bedrooms at all. This was because Newport society assumed anyone who was invited to their homes had their own and thus wouldn't need to

Ya see, the thing about Bah Hahbah is ya cahn’t get theah from heah.

Wonderful summer house (or year-round.) Great sprawling plan with nice communication of spaces and yet each space has its own focus and character.

I don't mind the modern improvements. As for the finishes, the Lily Pulitzer taste in in big-&-bold pattern wallpaper and my mother's taste for powder blue and pale pink would need some undoing. The mahogany panelled library (photos 16-18) is a disappointment, having been fitted out quite late, in the 1950s-1970s and not very well, with bad moldings and flat details, but hell, I'd live with it. I could live happily with it for a long time before considering any changes beyond finishes and furnishing. Even the non-conveying things like the Colonial Revival furniture is not so bad at all; it's the curtains and rugs that make some rooms too fussy. I'd furnish it with18th and early 19th C furniture which can still be bought for much less than they paid for some mediocre repros....at 8,816 finished square feet there's a lot to buy to furnish the house.

The oceanfront garden is lovely, and the view, and it's a great house to fill with people or enjoy in quiet.

Bloody ugly!

Beautiful

Loathe the drapes and window dressings but otherwise it’s fine

Reminded me of this, r6. I don’t loved the IKEA aesthetic but it was necessary for a reason.

The house, floors, views, outdoor spaces (especially the outdoor space on the roof) kitchens, bathrooms, paneling etc. are stunning.

ALL of the furniture has to go. So many fabrics all competing for attention! Does anyone remember Tricia Guild? Far, far too fussy and too much. Some of the wallpapers are good but the rest would have to go. Some of the rugs are stunning but I would want to show off the beautiful floors as much as possible.

What a beauty - and I love Bar Harbor. As others have mentioned, the furnishings have to go - those saggy window treatments are bad. I love the kitchen and Butler's pantry (what a great way to stow the rolling ladder!) and the grounds are spectacular. I think I would paint the exterior as well - so sick of grey - it would probably look great in white. This is definitely one of the better Tasteful Friends.

I like the furniture and rugs, hate the wallpaper and window treatments. It's an easy fix.

I wonder if anyone has ever been murdered 🩸 in there?

I would only consider it if I could be sure that Susan Collins didn't live nearby. Do Realtors have to disclose if there's a registered cunt in the neighborhood?

I like the house itself, as usual I'd pick different furniture, wallpaper and colors....

It’s too Republican. Someone needs to open the windows and let some humanity in.

R17 no, I'm not from the US. Down under, a cottage is a small 3-4 room building, usually single floor only, like a small bungalow, one step up from a shack or cabin

From Wikipaedia;

[quote]A cottage is, typically, a small house. It may carry the connotation of being an old or old-fashioned building. In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cosy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location.

They called this a "cottage?"

Bar Harbor is going the way of Nantucket; over run with the nouveau riche. Seal Harbor is where the old money crowd had their summer place.

R36 again. Should read have their summer places.

The kitchens and bathrooms are beautiful! Overall I like it, but there are a few too many patterned fabrics and froofy curtains for my taste.

R36 is it? I didn’t know that. But there’s still nowhere really to stay there, right? I always thought that’s when the overrun starts, once you finally get a luxury hotel. (And Nantucket now has many)

R36 = Martha Stewart

Wow...love it. Love everything about it, including the wallpaper and furnishings. Stunning.

This looks like a comparatively new-rich family spent a lot of money on a decorator in about 1993 or so and haven't changed much since. I imagine the owners love it, but the overall effect is much, much too fussy and uncomfortable. It definitely does not feel much like a vacation house, but more like an 80s/90s faux Georgian mansion in the New York suburbs. The yardage of fancy bindings in the library, rather than real books collected over time by the owners, is telling.

That said, the house has nice bones and an amazing kitchen. As noted above, the real old money has now decamped to Northeast Harbor, Seal Harbor, Islesboro, and the like, so the house will probably be bought by someone who appreciates the dreadful "fanciness" of this interior and just think it needs some updating and de-chintzing.

It's a nice house with a lovely view, but unfortunately it’s located on a very busy street that leads right into the tacky tourist trap area of Bar Harbor.

R39. The scion of a well known somewhat old money family with places in Seal Harbor, explained this to me when we were sailing at Point O’Woods. My family had been visiting Nantucket since the 60s and we stayed in a rooming house for 26 bucks a night. Or in a sailboat in the harbor. I haven’t been since ‘92

Now *that's* a range hood.

I love the immaculate cellar.

The big problem with Maine is that the resident year-round people who grew up in Maine are a very nasty bunch

A tad too flashy.

Hate most of the fabric choices, but ADORE everything else.

I've never seen that commercial r26. Just found another one I now love.

I don’t see where the cars are parked.

It’s perfect. I could be very happy there. But I realize I could be just happy anywhere if I decide to.

Love this room.

R34, U.S. person here. My understanding of "cottage" is the same as yours. I think R18 was joking about the Newport "cottage."

Also love this powder room or half-bath.

I love it, especially the grounds. The window treatments really need to go, it’s the Laura Ashley look on steroids.

It's rather good but R56 is right. It's a but too. And not how one would live in it. That charm in these cottages is making the comfortable, loose and easy.

Those sinks don't look like they've ever seen a fish scale.

Wouldn't change anything visible in those pics. Likely the the most beautifully stage property I've ever seen to date. That decorator deserves a standing ovation.

R58...that Decorator doesn't deserve a standing ovation. He/she deserves the gallows for using the most derivative crap - nearly all the wallpaper is horribly and the swag window treatments are beyond hideous. It looks like the decorator was cheaply inspired by ersatz Ralph Lauren of the late 1980's.

It's 2020 - post a video instead of 80 still pix, ffs.

Bah Hahbah!

[quote] It's 2020 - post a video instead of 80 still pix, ffs.

For DL purposes, I'd rather look at 80 pix, including a floorplan.

Love Love Love the house but I can't imagine paying over $4 million for a house without a garage.

Very blue blood.

[quote]It's 2020 - post a video instead of 80 still pix, ffs

I will always favor photos to even a quality video. A good realtor (rare as that is) will chose the images with care and give particular attention to the ordering so that there is a logical progression, space by space, through each floor of the house; and they will label the images in a way that relates clearly to the floor plan (still not very common in the U.S. outside a few cities.)

Most videos, however, are not high quality (the majority are stitched together slide shows of still images, often without an easy way to freeze and zoom in/enlarge, nearly all with some pompous music not fitting the property...Vivaldi's Four Seasons, anyone?)

Videos can make sense for more complex properties where they convey something that photos don't, but it's surprising how poorly they are used still, not just in some cases but in the vast majority— "it's 2020...ffs."

I wish there was a floor plan shown though. The video would at least give a better sense of continuity vs trying to map out the space from picture-to-picture. How else can I envision my glamorous parties in these spaces!?

Love the house and grounds. Hate the furnishings and wallpaper, but those are easily replaced.

It's a nice house and decorated extremely tastefully, traditionally, and safely. I would have to change the decor of course. One issue is the "lux" oldy worldy WASP beach mansion renovations - kitchen bathrooms. These are of course tasteful but they are TOO clean, TOO vanilla. I wonder if painting the white some creamier colors and some pops of color would be enough to break it up. New lux vintage fixtures stick in my craw. I don't enjoy when ALL patina has been wiped out. Only a hideous rich woman with a thorough OCD and GREEDY decorator does this. I'm sorry but a beach mansion needs. bit or rust here, pitted metal there, and maybe some worn floors. Maybe some mismatched law furniture with some age on it. I don't find pristine relaxing. Looks like international 5 star quality. bland.

[quote][R34], U.S. person here. My understanding of "cottage" is the same as yours. I think [R18] was joking about the Newport "cottage."

I wasn't joking at all. In Newport, the grand summer homes have been called cottages since the 19th century.

^ Both references to r18 above should be to r17.

Frpm WP:

"By the turn of the 20th century, many of the nation's wealthiest families were summering in Newport, including the Vanderbilts, Astors, and the Widener family, who constructed the largest "cottages", such as The Breakers (1895) and Miramar.[21] They resided for a brief summer social season in grand, gilded mansions with elaborate receiving rooms, dining rooms, music rooms, and ballrooms—but with few bedrooms, since the guests were expected to have "cottages" of their own. Many of the homes were designed by New York architect Richard Morris Hunt, who kept a house in Newport himself."

[quote]I don’t see where the cars are parked.

What looks like a street close in the main photo of the listing is a private driveway (5-10 off-street spaces per spaces), R51.ng

The house sits well back from the street and it would be easy to add a fence and/or hedging as the neighbors (to the left in this image) have done to screen out the view and noise of passing cars.

Are the owners and decorators Gay? Proportions and placement of everything looks so perfect, totally Queened up house.

R63 the lack of garaging would be a concern for me too (classic car owner), but there is space on both sides of the house to add carports that would shelter vehicles that need it without unduly compromising the architecture of the house. Modern cars can stay out in the elements out front as they are just transport appliances.

Alternatively there are plenty of other beautiful homes on the market in the area, like this one with two car garaging and water frontage at half the price. Does need more chintz inside though

R74’s house is more reasonable and beautiful too. I love all the shaded areas outside.

It reminds me of that puny shithole on the Frogmore estate in Windsor Park my in-laws expected me to live in.

R74's house was built in 2003 and it shows: bad design, bAd proportions, poor detailing, poor quality. It's a squat little toadstool of vaguely Shingle Style-inspired design. It's been for sale 667 days for good reason.

R73 I can’t imagine paying $4 mil for a house that’s not in the Hamptons or Greenwich, but that’s just me.

I LOVE Maine (and count me as someone who loves this decor) but I’m always going to be of the mindset that if I’m choosing Maine has the place for my country home I can’t be paying New York prices.

who tf wants to live in maine?

One would need an upholsterer, other than that it is fine. Are there no pools in Maine? Is susan concerned.

what does it look like in the winter? Is there a town nearby?

R78

My dear "the" Hamptons are gauche, aside from a few select no one is out there any more, and each year it becomes more so. People are rediscovering the former summer haunts of Berkshires, Adirondacks, etc.. anything to get away from "the Hamptons" crowd.

Greenwich while a nice enough place to live isn't a summer place at all. Hence Bar Harbor, Newport etc...

Speaking of Seal Harbor, I give you Skylands....

Martha Stewart snapped the place up from the Edsel Fords; complete with furniture, linens, furnishings.....

Skylands is now part of the Martha Stewart empire; she probably writes much of the place off seeing as she uses so much of it for her work.

More:

More, and made slight error, Martha Steward is second owner after the Fords.

It’s lovely, but it looks and feels like a hotel or guest house. I would also prefer more land for such a large house and high price. The lawn and bay front seem to have no privacy at all.

R72, but it’s outdoor parking. In Maine. That makes the house very inconvenient in winter. The assumption is that one would have a servant to clean snow off the cars and bring whichever car one wanted to the door, but that doesn’t compare to the convenience and comfort of a garage, even assuming that one employed a full-time, live-in servant who would perform such a service. (It’s not a job for a maid or cook.)

R87

Believe you and some other posters are focusing too much on motor vehicles and winter.

For certain families that have property in Bar Harbor, or any other part of Maine or even Rhode Island they are not in residence all year long. They come up for late spring through summer and many are gone by early or late fall. Just like Vera Donovan clears out leaving Dolores Claiborne to "keep the mice company", winters up there aren't for everyone.

Leaving aside climate unless your center of life is up there you more than likely have winter society elsewhere (New York, Boston, etc...), and that is where you'd be spending your winters. That or perhaps someplace warm in a property you owned or rented; Florida, California, Caribbean....

I wouldn't be caught dead in a big money / old money summer resort unless I was linked into a big network of young beautiful people who would be around a lot. Like if I had college age kids or my brothers and sisters did. The idea of spending too much time with adults who love such places does not a summer paradise make.

I know it's a summer house, R88, but I have no interest in owning a summer house like that, so I have to think of it as a permanent residence. For that purpose, the lack of a garage is a drawback, but not as much of a drawback as the lack of land and tight proximity of the neighboring houses, however nice they may be.

There too many bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms. It would be perfect for a Mormon family of 10, but I am single. Unless I'm entertaining the Boston College football team a la Clara Bow and USC, why would I want two floors of what are basically hotel rooms?

And what's with all the kitchens? No matter how old and aristocratic your family is, why would you need more than than one kitchen and perhaps an upstairs mini-kitchen with a refrigerator and sink? I suppose it would have to have a microwave, although I think the microwave is not really a top-drawer appliance ... but that's my own eccentric prejudice.

I just find the house weird. It's as though someone bought it and then didn't know what to do with all those rooms, so they turned the place into a house that could double as a large B&B.

[quote]I wouldn't be caught dead in a big money / old money summer resort unless I was linked into a big network of young beautiful people who would be around a lot. Like if I had college age kids or my brothers and sisters did. The idea of spending too much time with adults who love such places does not a summer paradise make.

That's a very strange (and revealing) real estate brief, R89.

R82 I agree and that’s my taste as well, actually, but choosing to buy a place in those more “low key” areas also comes with the expectation that you’re going to be able to get a beautiful house for significantly less money.

It's not strange and weird to want to be in a beautiful place, living in luxury, when there are young energetic optimistic people around. They are the future, and usually they aren't polluted or cynical. Even if born rich, and in a materialistic family (who would own an elaborate old money beach mansion), they can still make their lives, their way. This is what I thought when attending and then teaching in the Ivy League - young rich people are fun! Is that so shocking? A beautiful beach house filled with stuffy broken rich old people is horrible. I've been there. But when it's filled with kids and young adults going about their lives, it's pleasant. They and their friends - that's a lot of good energy and they can turn a dodgy situation into something nice.

Totally irrelevant but I just got through watching an IONtv rerun of a Criminal Minds episode about murders occurring in haunted Maine houses.

^ Meant to add that that was kind of a reply to r30.