1200 Whitehead Street, Key West - Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda

 

Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda - The Key West Real Estate Lament

Key Wester Shel Silvertein left us with many  memories including Woulda-Coulda-Shoula to which I add  the Key West Lament

All the Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
Layin' in the sun,
Talkin' bout the things
They woulda-coulda-shoulda done...
But those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
All ran away and hid
From one little did.

Yesterday afternoon a new listing popped up on my Key West MLS. The first image was so startling I had to study it for a few seconds and then I realized what house it was - 1200 Whitehead Street. I had written about the property when it popped two years ago when it was listed for just $912,000. Let's look at the 2019 image and compare to 2021 so you can share my glee in the transformation. 

2019 

 

2021

I took the grayish photo in 2019 and a professional photographer took the recent pic. His pic  is better by far. But its not the photography at issue here. My 2019 photo showed the potential about which I wrote in the earlier blog. The house was a project home for the former owners. Times got difficult. The project was abandoned. The house was half-finished. The bank foreclosed. When it was offered for sale lots of potential buyers surfaced. I went over to take photos for a potential buyer and also my blog. I was not surprised to see four or six other agents roaming around with their customers or cameras taking photos or doing Facetimes. 

One of the challenges of this property was its size. The house was 4,179 square feet which is massive by Key West standards. The  corner lot was good sized - 2,495 square feet and located just a couple of blocks north of the famous Southernmost Point. Half the house was sort of done with finishes the former owners preferred and that a new owner might have to replace to create a cohesive design aesthetic. That could mean ripping out perfectly fine marble, tiles, walls, and floors. A new owner might have have to follow the design plans of the already framed rooms or tear down the framing and start anew.

One of the faults I had with the "before" property was that the owner had created such a large house and left only a small space for a pool personally would have preferred a larger pool and garden area. That 's the problem when Realtors substitute their preferences for what new owners may prefer. Some of the best agents in town shut their moths and let their buyers make up their own minds. I should do the same. Below is a before pic of the space left for a pool and then the actual pool.

CLICK HERE to read my original blog on 1200 Whitehead Street, Key West. It was bank owned and  listed for $912,000 but sold for $1,351,000 in sixteen days after a bidding war before that was actually going on everywhere.

1200 Whitehead Street is now offered for sale for 3.599,000. CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and many excellent listing photos. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. to schedule a private showing of this one-of-a-kind eyebrow houses in a great Old Town location. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. Don't be a Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda on this. You'll regret it for the rest of your life. 

 

1121 Southard Street, Key West - Unique Eyebrow House

I've said it before and I am saying it again - I think you're gonna like this picture. What's not to like? 1121 Southard Street is the poster child for Key West eyebrow houses. to prove that point I nosed around in my old shoebox where I found a photo taken of the property in the 1930s by the WPA and another random shot from the 1960s. The architectural lines and details are just perfect.

I searched the Historic Sanborn Fire Maps and learned this house existed in 1889. It is located just a couple of houses west of White Street and across the street from the Key West Armory. The Army Barracks were located on the east side of White Street. That site dates back to prior to the Civil War. 

I got to see the house this past Tuesday, the first day it was on the market. The home is tenant occupied and showings in the future will be restricted. Perhaps my blog will help potential buyers appreciate value of this very pretty Key West home.

Key West has changed so much since the black and white photo was taken in front of 1121 Southard Street in the 1960s. But this house looks pretty much the same if not better than ever. I knew I was in for a treat when I stepped up on the elevated front porch and range the door bell.

The entry view is killer: that pool. Those palms. The lifestyle. 

The first floor powder room is located just to the right of the front door. It is so cute. There is deep storage under the stair case as well. More important than that is the crisp white painted trim, Every piece of trim glistens. The wood floors are deep and rich.

A few days ago I blogged about the sameness of so many kitchens across America. This is not one of those. Look how cute this is. The kitchen cabinet plate rack shelf with open shelving above is so practical. The butcher block cabinets add texture and warmth to the space. Windows from three side allow ambient light to enter during the daytime. 

Eyebrow houses get their name from the  construction of the house. The  roof eaves extend out from the body o fhte house a few feet where columns support the weight. Windows on the second floor actually touch the floor allowing light and veneration to enter inside the second floor space. Eyebrow houses vary greatly in physical size as well as how they have been renovated to meet current living requirements. I have never seen two eyebrow houses that are exactly alike. 

This is the master bedroom  which is located on the west side of the house. The bath faces Southard Street while the rear faces the pool. The wide angle lens distorts the room sizes. The second floor landing is located not quite mid-distance between the east and west bedrooms. The master bedroom is the larger.

The back of the house is about the pool - it is the first thing you see because the blue color is so intense opposed ot the red tinted wood deck that wraps the rear. Not seen is the outdoor shower and storage shed on the east side of the house. The back is fences and landscaped. Nobody can see inside. The west There is off street parking for two cars on the west side front.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and listing photos of 1121 Southard Street, Key West, Florida offered for sale at $1,295,000. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 so that I can get you inside this special home. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at preferred Properties Key West.

624 White Street, Key West - Touched by History

The former home of Pulitzer Prize poet Elizabeth Bishop located at 624 White Street in Old Town Key West is now offered for sale for the first time since it was purchased from Ms. Bishop in 1946.  According to the listing Realtor, not me, the house has been kept it basically the same condition since it was purchased.

“It is very nice here; I wish so much that you and your mother could come here sometime, I am so sure you would like it. The sea is so beautiful– all spotted and striped, from dark black-blue to what my aunt calls ‘lettuce’ green.”

Elizabeth Bishop discovered Key West in the 1930s while on a fishing trip. She purchased the eyebrow house at 624 White Street which she owned until 1946 when she moved to Brazil. The house was built in 1889 at the eastern edge of Old Town. Her home faced the Army Barracks and the Battleship Maine cemetery. The Armory was located about 150 feet or so to the north. I dug into my old shoebox and found an aerial photo of the area from 1940 to which I added an arrow to show her home.

 Elizabeth Bishop’s home in Key West, Florida was designated a Literary Landmark in 1993. The ceremony was conducted at the 11th Annual Key West Literary Seminar. The plaque was unveiled by Pulitzer prize-winning poet, and close friend of Bishop, James Merrill.

In his book The Houses of Key West  Alex Cammerer wrote about his first visit to Key West which turned into a love affair with the architecture of Old Town. He referred to eyebrow houses simply stating "with their front porch roofs extending demurely over the second-story windows, hence the term eyebrows. I have discovered that they are unique to Key West and are not found anywhere else in the country." I have blogged about many of the eyebrow homes in Key West. I have learned that no two are the same design and construction.  According to the Monroe County Property Appraiser this home has 1336 sq ft of interior living space plus porches. The home has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The interiors feature Dade County Pine wood walls, ceiling, and floors.

The "modern" kitchen is located in an addition at the rear of the house and was added subsequent to Bishop's departure. 

I am always amazed at house new renovations treat the second floor bedrooms to create function sleeping spaces and add or update existing bathrooms. The roof lines must be preserved to maintain the architectural integrity of the original home.

The 6,030 square foot lot measures 67' X 90'. There is more than adequate room in the rear for a large pool plus updating of the rear porch into interior living space and perhaps the addition of a new porch or deck at the rear.

 CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet on 624 White Street, Key West offered for sale at $1,200,000. Then please call me Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule a private showing.  I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. This is exactly the kind of property buyers interested in renovation project are interested in.  It will probably go under contract in a matter of days.

1115 Southard Street, Key West - PRICE REDUCED

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness."

                                                                                                                                       John Keats

I first wrote about 1115 Southard Street in Key West back in March.  I was genuinely taken by this beautiful house. Take look at the same house in the black and white photo below which was taken in 1965.  This home is an example of a Key West eyebrow style home. The roof eaves extend out over the porch protecting the second floor windows from rain or wind. In the days before air conditioning, residents had to rely on natural ventilation and trees to provide cooling. When you think about it, eyebrows really don't keep wind or rain out of your eyes - it's the eyelids, but that's not as romantic sounding.

I searched the Historic Sanborn Fire Maps and learned it appeared in the 1889 Map when it was then numbered 514 Southard Street. The house number changed to 1115 Southard Street on the 1899 Map. The Sanborn Map also identified the lane behind this house as Barracks Lane which was renamed Stump Lane on the 1899 Map.

I dug down into my old shoebox and found the above aerial photo taken of the area where I identified 1115 Southard Street. Study the photo and you may recognize the tall building at the corner. That is the Armory. The Army Barracks was located across the street to the right. The houses in the foreground are in The Meadows Area of modern day Key West.

I paused at the front door and felt a sense of anticipation before entering this home. The house exterior is strikingly handsome. The grounds are very well maintained. In fact the yard maintenance guys where clipping and blowing when I saw the property.

I have written before that every eyebrow house I have been inside is different from the rest. This is as good an example of a variation as any I have seen. Though varied in size, eyebrow houses were typically built with a center staircase rising to the second floor where there would have been two bedrooms on either side. Downstairs there would have been Dade County Pine walls on either side of the staircase with bedrooms or sitting rooms followed by a kitchen in the rear. In many instances the kitchen might have been an addition to the house.

As soon as I entered this house I recognized the renovations would have been made in the 1980s. The interior first floor Dade Pine walls were removed. Additions were made to the east and west sides of the house where a bit of space was added but more importantly that space introduced ambient daytime light. This type of addition would never be allowed by our Historic Architectural Review Commission (HARC). They put the kibosh on just about anything innovative. Saltillo tile floors were a big deal in decorating four decades ago - not so much now. The original ceiling was replaced by a new wood ceiling. The wood theme is carried throughout the house.

The renovation architecture is interesting.  But it's dated. That does not mean it is bad. It means a buyer who wants either a more historic looking home or a home with current contemporary features will have to renovate.

The staircase to the second floor was relocated to the backside of the living room wall where the sofa is located. The staircase lands directly into the master suite which includes the bedroom, a niched study, closets, bathroom, and exit to the glorious private roof top deck. The architect who designed this house did a damned good job. A dormer lifted and extended the back end of the second floor. (Modern day HARC would never allow this. And that's a shame. Note the original roof line was captured and noted in the built-in closets which have an ascending line that bisects the new from the old. The past is preserved.)

I stood on the second floor deck and took in the view which I found so charming. The old house next door looks delightfully deplorable. It will be offered for sale some day. It sits on  a huge L-shaped lot with access on Southard Street as well as Stump Lane (as does 1115 Southard). It will sell for way over a million dollars. In the meantime (which could be ten years or longer), the house will just sit there exuding its potential.

The house has 1400 square feet of interior living space under air plus covered porches, decks, and patios. The two guest bedrooms have baths, one of which is in the cute cottage at the rear. A gate at the rear opens out to Stump Lane. The 4,939 square foot lot measures 50.3' X 97.5'. The pool is both sunny and enormous by Old Town standards. 

The asking price on 1115 Southard Street, Key West, was just reduced to $1,000,000. CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and listing photos. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642. to schedule a private showing. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.