420 Elizabeth Street, Key West - Simply Elegant

Just Listed by Preferred Properties Key West - 420 Elizabeth Street - a simply elegant home located in the very heart of Old Town. This home was the 2010 recipient of the Historic Florida Keys Foundation Award for Excellence in Preservation and New Construction. The prized Ceramic Star is affixed to the left of the front door.

The street appeal of this old home has not changed over the centuries. It's still a beauty. I checked the Historic Sanborn Fire Maps and learned that this house was shown on the 1889 map as "207 Elizabeth". Three years later the same house was then identified as 420 Elizabeth Street. Then I dug down into my old shoe box and found a photo taken of the home in 1965. I took a somewhat similar photo that shows the house today. You'll quickly see there is a new addition, but the simplicity of the original design remains intact. If you were to sit on the front porch, the house across the street at the corner of Fleming is one of the homes Broadway impresario Jerry Herman renovated in the 1980s. This block has several multi-million dollar homes each of which is a bit different in design, but all of which share this highly desirable location. Snobs who won't consider buying a house on a street where cars actually drive will surely covet a location like this where locals can walk to just about any place in Old Town in a couple of minutes.

The house is pretty simple in its layout. You enter into a center hallway with the living area on the right and a guest bedroom and bath on the left. The kitchen is located at the left rear while the dining area is on the right. If you use the black and white photo as a point of reference, the rear sawtooth addition is where the kitchen and dining areas are now located.

The home sits near the sidewalk. The lot if 50 feet wide and 100 feet deep. From the street, you'd have no idea what might sit beyond the street view. There is a spacious graveled driveway on the right with space enough to park at least two cars. The new addition looks "new" and does not pretend to be a part of the original house.

The interiors have been meticulously updated. The original Dade County Pine walls, ceilings, and floors look perfect. There's a richness and warmth that fills the rooms which is set off by the crisp white trim. Instead of using replica light fixtures to copy things from the past, contemporary lighting light fixtures were use to make the point that this home is  au courant.  The custom kitchen cabinets seamlessly blend in with the Dade County Pine. 

A small hallway just off the dining area leads the recent addition where there is bath. The brushed steel spiral staircase ascends to the second floor where you will find an efficient guest bedroom. I know it is only a guest bedroom because the "closet" is the most unique apparatus for hanging a few clothes that I have ever seen.

The closet is the three pronged assembly with two hangers.

There are two guest bedrooms on the second floor of the main portion of the house as well. They are utilitarian in design. What more could a guest want than a comfy bed in such a beautiful home?  If it were furnished any grander, the guest would never go home.

When you pass through the French doors out to the rear deck, you feel like you have entered into a movie set. The view is intimate and seductive.

The zero entry pool appears be even with the deck and gradually slopes from the deck into the water, becoming deeper with each step, in the manner of a natural beach. The "steps" in this pool are wide and shallow. When you walk into the pool it's as if you are walking in the manner of a natural beach. The mosaic walls seem to extend the water upward. You'd never know that there is a huge mansion next door to the south and another to the north. The tropical physical separation of the properties and the creative use of tropical landscaping creates a private Garden of Eden.

 The first photo above shows the second recent addition to this historic home. This addition includes the covered deck but more importantly the master suite. I had no idea what to expect in this space. But I got a big surprise when I opened the nano doors. The all wood bedroom is uber masculine. It's so simple and utilitarian. The glass doors look out to the pool.This is the art for this room. Nothing else is needed. This bath, like the others, uses marble and ultra-contemporary fixtures to create alluring places to attend to the basic needs.

CLICK HERE to view the professionally photographed home. You really must look at these photos. Then if you are in the market for a home offered at $1,895,000 please call me right away. There were several of Key West's top agents at this house on Thursday taking look-sees for their buyers. I am your buyer's agent and I want to help you buy this very beautiful home. Please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. I am a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.  Don't wait. You will be sorry.