3529 Sunrise Drive - Key West - A Blast from the Past, A Chance to Recast

Sherman & Peabody and the WayBack Machine

3529 Sunrise Drive - walled & gated and surrounded by lush gardens

The lovely home at 3529 Sunrise Drive in Key West was built in 1963 and incorporates many of the styles and trends of that era. I pulled out the WayBack machine and recalled these events that occurred in 1963: the Beatles record their first album Please Please Me in a single session; Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique which re-launched the women's movement; General Hospital and The Outer Limits debut on ABC and My Favorite Martian premieres on CBS, Leave It To Beaver ended-he grew up; Martin Luther King was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama for parading without a license and later issues his Letter From Birmingham Jail; Gary Thomas saw President John F. Kennedy in Berlin; the US, UK, and USSR sign the nuclear test ban treaty; Martin Luther King delivers his I Have a Dream speech from the Lincoln Memorial; instant replay was used for the first time during the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia; John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas and three days later Lee Harvey Oswald was killed on live TV.

Events, styles, trends, fads, they all last for a while but many impact our lives for years or decades into the future. When you are young, you tend to live in the moment. As you get older, you learn that not everything in the world revolves around you. As you get much older, you may learn that what you do or say or think is of no consequence to anybody. That's sort of what happens to styles, trends and fads-they get ignored or displaced or even replaced. Styles that were hip become passe. Maybe that's why for many people buying a house in the Old Town area of Key West is so safe: old is always popular there. Even cherished.

If you are old enough to remember the 1960s you will recall the space race and the New Frontier. You will remember the forward thinking we embraced. Our TV, our culture, our furniture and home goods, and our architecture reflected the hopes and dreams as aspirations of that time. Some homes today still have fallout shelters that were built in the 1960s, a different and sad face of the culture of that time.

The home at 3529 Sunrise Drive incorporates many of the features of large suburban homes built during the early 1960s including multiple living levels, large rooms, vaulted ceilings, and large outdoor living areas. The listing Realtor describes the property this way:

" Everything you want in Key West living. Plenty of room both inside and out for entertaining or just relaxing with the family. Vaulted ceilings and large rooms make the interior exceedingly livable. A walled lot, lush landscaping, large pool and several covered outside seating areas along with offstreet, covered parking make this an ideal property. This is a home that you can live in tomorrow or add personal touches to create your own island oasis."

Formal entry

Living room with vaulted ceiling - located off the formal entry

Sunken dining room

Classic open kitchen with lots of cabinets and work spaces

Note the dial telephone and built-in radio!

Master bedroom with en-suite bath

One of several outdoor venues plus a lovely pool

3529 Sunrise Drive is a big house located a on a large lot on the east side of Key West. It is far removed from the hub bub of Old Town. This is a family area and this is a very nice family home that looks to be in very good condition. The house has 3378 sq ft of living space and sits on a 8937 sq ft lot. The lot is surrounded by a large privacy fence. There is a large electrically operated gate for entry to the covered parking plus boat storage area. CLICK HERE to view a slide show with lots of photos of this home. This property is listed by Preferred Properties, but it is not my listing. It is offered at $899,000. CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls data sheet.

If you would like to see this blast from the past, please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to schedule a visit. I am a buyer's agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc. in Key West, Florida. Check it out and see how you could recast this property into the home of your future.