923 Eaton Street - Old Town - Key West

New to the market after a recent update is 923 Eaton Street in Key West, Florida. This home and the house next door at 921 Eaton Street are the embodiment quintessential Key West cottage style architecture. In fact, the house at 921 Eaton Street was the the cover photo for Alex Caemmerer's The Houses of Key West. Caemmerer wrote "What particularly impressed me at that time, although many of these houses were small and owned by people of modest means - mostly local workers, they had a simplicity of line and an aura of elegance and dignity which had the same effect on one as does, for instance, a simple Bach tune."

Today the two homes on Eaton Street stand side by side and continue to exude an aura of simple elegance.  923 Eaton Street is a two bedroom, two bath house with 1320 sq ft of living space situated on a large 2813 sq ft lot in Old Town. 

When you first enter this house you immediately appreciate the Dade County Pine walls and ceiling. The rippled glass in the windows distorts the views of the houses across the street just a wee bit. While the house is old, it now does not seem old. It is refreshed! The floors are newer and look wonderful. The rear wall was painted a pale blue to add contras to this deep wood room. When you pass from the living room and move through toward the rear of the main floor you suddenly see a wide opening out to the rear yard which is wide and deep and offers the possibilities of adding a pool, a small cottage, or maybe both. 

Just off the kitchen is a full bath. I know that's a bit odd, but this is an old house and you sometimes make do with what you have. There is an adjacent room which is currently used as the laundry room and storage room. This space could possibly be expanded and perhaps made into a ground level bedroom. The back of the house does not currently have a covered back area. A new owner might add a covered deck with a small extension of the house. 

The second floor has a new bathroom and both bedrooms were updated. The second floor landing is bright and cheery.  The bedrooms have been cleaned and painted. New wall to wall carpeting was added to reduce the amount of wood surfaces.  It worked!  A prior owner replaced the old scuttle visible in the black and white photo taken about fifty years ago. That area now has a skylight that illuminates what might otherwise be a dark bedroom. This house is super clean and ready for a new owner to move right in.923 Eaton Street is offered for sale at $598,900. CLICK HERE to see the Key West mls data sheet and listing photos.

I took more photos of this simple, elegant, and cute Key West cottage home with several possibilities for future improvements. But it is in move-in condition now.  CLICK HERE to see the photos and then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to schedule a showing.  I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.

This Old House

The key requirement when purchasing an historic Key West home is that it be constructed of Dade County Pine. You can't buy Dade County Pine anymore, because it all got used. There is no "new" Dade County Pine because almost all the trees were cut down years ago. New pine comes from other areas now and are inherently soft and fast growing wood. Dade County Pine, on the other hand, is native to South Florida and is an aged wood of superior strength.

So what?, you say. This is what. Dade County Pine that is found in almost every old house in Key West is apt to be over 150 years old or older. Key West still has a few homes built in the early 1800s and many built soon after the Civil War. The Dade County Pine used to construct those homes was "old" when it was used, and by the passage of time that wood has become extremely hardened and resistant to termites. Many of the larger historic Key West homes were built by ship chandlers (builders or out-fitters). So the historic homes became desirable because of their character and the materials used in their construction.

I have mentioned several times that I used to own the Eaton Lodge guest house at 511 Eaton. That property is one of the great Key West homes. I learned first hand how damned strong Dade County Pine is when I did a little remodeling to a room in 1994. I removed one interior wall constructed of Dade County Pine. Big deal, you say. Yes it was, I say. The wall had Dade Pine on both sides and the 2x4's were also Dade Pine. And they were so strong that the Mikita reciprocating saw I used was almost useless. I remember swinging a huge sledge hammer at the wall that did nothing except exhaust myself. I think it took over two days to get the wall removed.

Here are some some photos of interior walls in a Key West home. Photo #1, Photo #2, Photo #3, Photo #4, Photo #5. CLICK each "Photo" to see the pictures. The pics demonstrate my reference to the construction method. This particular house is not a historic home other than it is old. I had one "fancy" Realtor get just damned irritated at me one time when he was showing his listing to me and my client and said the house was "historic". The house was a dog in a crappy location. I asked what historic event or what historic owner used to live there. He got real snippy after that...

If you think about how the big houses were constructed years ago they were made of Dade County Pine on the outside walls, the inside portion of the outside walls, the interior walls (both sides), the ceilings, and the floors. That is a lot of wood, and the houses are very strong because of it. Since the wood is native, it works well in this climate and environment. Homes that have been remodeled and homes that have been preserved and restored (as the case may be) are very sought after. Unfortunately, they are also very expensive. Even in today's market. CLICK HERE to checkout such a house located at 406 United Street in Old Town. I encourage you to checkout all of the photos in the link as they show several rooms where the Dade County Pine walls have been masterfully restored and put to excellent modern use. The house is actually a bargain by Key West standards. It is priced at $2,495,000 or $689 per sq ft. It was remodeled only a couple of years ago and many of the homes of that same time are being marketed around $200 per sq ft or higher.
CLICK HERE to perform your own search of Key West homes to see if you can find a house with Dade County Pine construction that you want to transform into your dream home in Paradise. It can happen. It just takes work. Then call me, Gary Thomas, at 305-766-2642 to schedule a showing. Who knows, you may end up owning a This Old House.