If you are a hopeless romantic you'll probably fall in love with today's home when you read the address -
712 Love Lane.
But if you're a pragmatist you may actually need to walk to the end of the lane, open the gate, and enter garden before you fall in love with this home. And after that all hope is lost for you
will be surely, truly, madly, deeply in love with 712 Love Lane.
Today's
home is located at the very end of Love Lane in Old Town Key West. In her book
Key West Houses author Leslie Lindsey described 712 Love Lane as "an enchanting environment with a brick-and-stone patio and overhead trellis laden with cascading bougainvillea."
The listing broker describes this wonderful home this way:
"One of the island's best
kept secrets. This 4 bedroom, 3 bath all-on-one-level triple saw tooth
shotgun proved inspirational to many. Harry Roberts was the model for
Harry Morgan in Hemingway's Key West novel To Have and Have Not''. Bill
Wright, Russell Baker, and David Halberstram have all been inspired by
this gem, secluded behind the library palm garden. Judith Kazantzis
immortalized the home in her poem, Love Lane, Key West''. The main home
and separate guest cottage with bath open to the private deck and 9
foot deep heated lap pool with outdoor shower. Cypress shutters and
cypress cabinets with travertine tops in the kitchen and dining area.
Located off Fleming Street at the end of Love Lane with off-street
parking."
Let me first tell you why it is so "secret" - it's
because there are three separate "Love Lanes" each located near the other but far enough apart to totally confuses just above anyone. If you walk on
the north side of Southard Street you will find a Love Lane sign midway between William
and Elizabeth Streets.. If you walk down
the lane you will find that the
lane abruptly ends where a house sits and the lane ends. Bur if you are walk on the south side of Fleming Street between Elizabeth and William Streets you will
find an unmarked walking lane that begins at the edge of the Monroe
County Public Library (which has been referred to as the Pink Library).
This, too, is Love Lane.
And if you went back to Southard Street and
walked on the south side of the street you would find a tiny little walking lane, a
lane also called Love Lane. In his book
The Streets of Key West author J. Willis Burke explains the confusion about Love Lane:
"Love can generate some confusion - and Love Lane is no exception. Some
maps show to Loves, one coming off Fleming and another off Southard, but
not meeting mid-block. Other maps indicate Gwynn Street, named for a
former mayor and cigar tycoon E. O. Gwynn, is the lane that runs off
Southard. And yet another source cites Johnny Cake Lane as making up the
northern half of Love Lane. At one time perhaps it did... As confirmed
by the loving couple who lives on the Fleming Street side of the lane,
both are now called Love Lane. It seems they don't meet because the
bungalow that bisects the lane was built on the sly, and over the
decades, has been grandfathered and let stand."
 |
| Love Lane adjacent to the Monroe County Library Garden |
 |
| 712 Love Lane is located at the end of the quiet little lane |
I searched the old Sanborn Fire Maps and found what I believe to be 712 Love Lane. Love Lane existed and was named the same in the 1889 Sanborn Map, but the houses were not numbered. I checked the maps for later years and the house still stands where as the larger house at the corner at Fleming is gone. Today that space is the library garden. The early cottage was simple. I dug into the old shoebox and found 812 Love Lane is it was photographed in 1965 - below.
Like so many places in Old Town, this home has been added onto over
the years. Rooms, multiple decks, a pool, a guest cottage are pieces
that slowly became the whole. What was once a small cottage is now a
1309 sq ft home with three bedrooms in the main house plus the guest
cottage or pool house. I started to write this blog about the charming spaces, I could not determine a favorite. So
instead I'll throw up some photos I took when the home was owner occupied and you can decide which you
like most.
When
you enter the home you see the dining room on the right. It's a
magnificent space with soaring ceiling, a library wall crammed with
books and windows that look out to the garden of the Monroe County Library, and the front porch. A quiet little reading nook completes this space.
On
the opposite side of the room is the living area with walls that seem
to reach to heaven. Cedar shutters line the French doors on the south
side which filter the view of the pool. Art has found a home on these
walls which themselves become a piece of art. Look through the open door
and view the first of three bedrooms in the main house. Notice the
pickled wood flooring that is light and practical and in harmony with
the house.
 |
| Pine walls were whitewashed which allowed the pink tones of the wood to show through. Louvered cedar shutters open out to the pool. |
See
what I mean? You can't pick a favorite spot because each room or space is so precious in
its own right. I love the spartan bedroom with the single bed. It has a
window that looks out to library garden. The shutter lined master
bedroom made me want to jump on the bed and take a nap. The gauzy
front bedroom begged me to peer through the shutters out to the pool.
And then there is that insane kitchen with the soaring ceiling and
handmade cedar cabinets. You absolutely positively cannot buy that charm from Home Depot or IKEA
here. This kitchen was created with LOVE in mind.
The
pool is located on the south side of the property. Some facing pools get an hour or so of sun each day. This pool should stay sunny
most of the day throughout most of the year. Sometimes buyers miss
things like that. It's always nice to have a pool with some sun and some
shade. Not all people are bronzed gods and not all gods need to bake
all day. The guest cottage or pool house is located at the far end of the pool.
The
pool house (guest cottage) is located at the far end of the pool. I
walked inside and looked at the room and my jaw dropped. Who wouldn't
love to sleep, or take a nap, or do other stuff in this place? The cottage has a tiny bath so if could function as a bedroom. This space is so restful.
I
was nearing the end of taking photos when I snapped the above picture. I
told the listing agent that Ralph Lauren must have created this space -
it is just perfect! He didn't, but I think you get what I mean.
CLICK HERE to see all of the photos I took of 712 Love Lane.
Kevin N. McCarthy's book
The Book Lover's Guide to Florida: Authors, Books and Literary Sites notes
that author William Wright lived at 712 Love Lane (for about ten
years). The present owners purchased this home from Wright in 1987. They
created a masterpiece. 712 Love Lane is now vacant. All of the furnishings are gone. The house and garden await the vision of a new owner. The house needs painted and maybe the baths need updated. The house, however, is a little masterpiece that only needs preserved not remade.
This property has been rented during season as a
vacation rental at $15,000 per month. I think a new owner might improve on the monthly rental a bit. You could not ask for a better location than this home. And I don't think there are many houses that are as picturesque as this.
CLICK HERE to view the Key West Association of
Realtors mls datasheet and to view listing photos. If you would like to
see
712 Love Lane with me,
Gary Thomas, please call me a
305-766-2642. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at
Preferred Property Key West. You'll fall in love with this one!
