521 Grinnell Street, Key West - Prime Old Town Location

  The listing broker describes 521 Grinnell Street in Key West this way:

"Just Listed in Old Town Key West! This grand corner property offers over 2000 sq. ft. of living space plus over-sized deck and balconies for entertaining. The main level has a den with classic Dade County Pine walls, spacious light-filled living and dining areas that open to front deck and the cocktail pool. The kitchen has ample cabinet space, double ovens, stainless refrigerator, and a breakfast nook. There is a full bath and bedroom on main level. Upper level offers two separate master suites. This home features hardwood floors, Mexican tile, cathedral ceilings, storage space, stained glass, central AC, and off street parking. This home in is the perfect location near fine dining, Duval Street, and the historic Seaport."

521 Grinnell Street is actually one of the very first homes I got to watch being rebuilt and expanded right after I moved to Key West. In 1993 a friend of mine bought 521 Grinnell Street and the adjacent vacant lot. The original main house and extension visible in the top black and white photo was totally remodeled. A new two story addition was added to the vacant lot which is partially visible in the black and white photo immediately above. 

 The main house is an iconic Key West Grand Conch complete with first and second floor porches that overlook historic Grinnell Street. The house is located next to Lowes Lane, a small lane that dead ends about two hundred feet or so to the east. Several small cottages are located on this lane that is among the loveliest in Old Town.

When you enter the front door you are immediately transported back to an earlier day when homes were built to last a very long time by tradesmen and craftsmen who loved their work and not by corporations that bang-out new houses like autos on an assembly line. That is why old houses like this have lasted all these years. I check the Historic Sanborn Fire Maps and learned that it first appeared in the 1889 map. That means it exist by that date or earlier. The doorway into the main floor study is a bit larger than a typical doorway of that era which leads me to believe my friend modernized this space a bit.

The listing broker gave me permission to use his photos for today's blog. The room above is located to the rear of the front study. If you look carefully, you will see that the walls in this room, like most in the original house, are Dade County Pine.  A door opens from this ground floor bedroom directly into the adjacent bath which is also used as the guest bath, but which is accessed by a different door off the dining room.

The living room is located in what I referred to above as the extension of the main house. French doors at the front open out to the deck in front that spans the extension between the main house and the 1994 two story addition.  The ceiling was vaulted to give the area an expansive feeling. The space is bathed in in light. Even though the original house is now at least 116 years old, the home has a contemporary feel and flow. If you buy this home, you won't feel like you are living in a museum. The dining room is located on the ground floor of the 1994 addition. Another set of French doors at the rear open out to the cocktail pool at the rear. The first time I had dinner in the then brand newly remodeled and expanded home I asked my friend why he had not built a pool. He answered he owned several gay guest houses and could use any of those pools anytime. I sold a nearby home on Lowes Lane to a couple who live very far away. When they come to town they head to Dante's at the Historic Seaport where tourists and locals can hangout by that giant pool all day and simply buy a hamburger and a coke.

French doors at the end of the kitchen open out to the rear deck and pool. There's plenty of room to sit and watch the grand kids splash in the pool or to sit and smooch with your feet dangling in the water while sipping the bubbly. The kitchen is a part of the 1994 addition to the old house. It has a clean and contemporary look but does not have the same boxy cabinets evident is so many modern places. You can dismiss the tiles as passe, but they work here.

The second floor of the 1994 house is devoted to the guest bedroom, closet, private bath, and covered front porch. What a neat place for couples who no longer sleep in the same bedroom or the teenager who wants his or her own place but still needs to live at home. This is a big comfortable space.

The master bedroom and bath pictured above are located on the second floor of the main house. It, too, has a private covered porch that overlooks Grinnell Street. In May and June the Royal Poinciana trees in front of 521 Grinnell are ablaze in millions of little red flowers. The sight is amazing. During the rest of the year you can sit up on either porch and watch the world pass by your house. You will undoubtedly overhear tourists talking about how wonderful it would be to live in one of these grand Key West houses. Everybody dreams about it. A lucky few do it. 

This home would make a wonderful Key West vacation home. A new homeowner could enliven the space with new furnishings to show off the wonderful historic architecture and modern addition. The location is a short stroll to Duval Street and the Historic Seaport. Five Brothers Deli is half a block away at the corner of Southard Street. Most of the gyms and yoga studios are within easy walking distance from this location. 

 CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet and all listing photos on 521 Grinnell Street which is offered for sale at $1,250,000 or $604 per sq ft for this 2069 sq ft home located on one of the best blocks in Old Town. This is a terrific location and a wonderful house complete with garage entered off Loews Lane. Please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule a private showing. 

809 Eaton Street Key West - Bank Owned - Buying Opportunity

809 Eaton Street in Key West just became a Bank Owned Property. It is an historic house. It is a very large house with 6 bedrooms 5 1/2 baths, a pool, a guest cottage, two off street parking places, and an incredible street presence. It is priced beyond the means of most potential buyers. But it is an incredible buying opportunity for the buyer who wants to own a significant home in a great Old Town Key West location. It is offered for sale at $1,995,000.

The front section of the house stands three stories tall and appears to resemble an eyebrow house in construction except that it has wrap-around balconies on the first and second levels. The front portion of the house dates back to circa 1840.  I found a photo of the property taken in 1965 which shows the front portion, a sawtooth addition, and an extension. The building was meticulously restored in the early 2000s and was was featured in the Old Island Foundation House Tour in 2005.

The house is typical of other Bahamian styled homes of that era located in the immediate neighborhood. Many of the Key West's founding fathers were expatriates from the Bahamas. They brought with them the architectural style and construction techniques with which they were familiar.  Bahamian styled houses were placed on piers and had wood frames and had tall ceilings and large windows with Bahama shutters which permitted air to circulate through the house to provide natural cooling. The houses were built with wood clapboard siding. I stood on the front porch of this home a couple of days ago and noted the extra wide siding which suggested to me that the wood used was quite old when the house was built around 1840. That suggested that the trees used in construction must have dated back to the founding of our country or even before. Old growth lumber only comes from old trees.  The wood inside the house is Dade County Pine and would be of similar age. Dade County Pine is as tough as petrified lumber.  This house is about as solidly built as any you are apt to find.  Look at the photo immediately below and notice the tiny window just under the roof as it slopes downward. That window is located at floor level on the third floor. In the time before central air conditioning the windows and doors could remain open to ventilate the house. The architecture was not only graceful but also functional. The graceful style survives.

I believe that the original main floor wood walls were removed to provide a grand open space. The configuration today provides a semi-formal dining room on one side and a large living area on the other. Large posts and beams appear to have been added to support the weight of this massive building. An elegant stairway at the rear provides access to the second floor.

I have been inside numerous eyebrow houses in Key West. They all have a similar interior layout which includes a center hallway with rooms on either side on the ground floor. Rooms on the second floor vary depending on the size of the house. Smaller houses have one bedroom on either side and perhaps a narrow passage on one side of the second floor stairway landing which might lead to the rear where a bathroom has been added. Some larger homes have a larger bathroom addition with doors leading from the bedrooms on either side. This home has  two large bedrooms on the second floor each of which has private baths and a large hallway with a set of stairs that goes up to the third floor where there are two more bedrooms which share a bath at the rear. A dormer with a bank of windows looks off to the Gulf of Mexico just a couple of blocks to the north. A few years ago you could see the water from the window. Today trees have grown so tall that the water views are pretty much obscured. But the blue skies and white clouds still illuminate that room in the daytime.

The two additions seen in the old black and white photo were reconfigured to provide an open living and kitchen area with high vaulted ceilings. A bank of French doors at the rear open out to the covered rear deck that looks down toward the rear gardens, pool, and guest cottage.

The kitchen is even larger than the photos suggest. There is a butler's pantry at the rear of the kitchen where there is a side door that leads to the off street parking spot on the lane. This makes delivery of groceries and beverages a breeze. Your caterer will love this! There is a main level bedroom with en-suite bath located just off the great room. It has a set of French doors that open out to the covered rear elevated veranda. The guest cottage at the rear expanded the total living area to 4712 sq ft (per Monroe County Property Appraiser records). The irregularly lot runs 57' X 125' or around 7079 sq ft. The house sits at the corner of picturesque Caraballo Lane where one of the two off street parking spots is located.

If you look carefully you'll see a whole house generator tucked away at the end of the pool. There's plenty of space to get a famous Key West tan here. The guest cottage can be accessed via gate and pathway from the Eaton Street entrance or off the lane entrance. Guests can come and go without disturbing anyone.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to schedule a showing or to provide more information on this exciting new bank owned property. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. This property is owned by a local bank. Decisions will be made locally and will be made promptly. Don't miss out on this exciting buying opportunity of an important historic home.

718 Eisenhower Drive Key West - The Pendleton Estate

718 Eisenhower Drive in Key West was recently brought back on the market at a new and lower price, $2,475,000. Now that might seem like a really expensive property in most places - and it is even expensive by Key West's inflated market value pricing, but it is not really that expensive when you consider how much this grand old dame offers. The listing Realtor describes the property as a

"Fine example of Victorian Queen Anne architecture, built in the late 1800's, restored in 1993. Wide expansive porches wrap around the mansion overlooking a beautiful pool and tropical gardens. The 4,148 SF main house has a large central hallway, original 8 ft. pocket doors, 15 ft. ceilings, separate dining/living rooms and a large library with hand-crafted bookcases, 3bd/3ba, garage and gated parking. The guest house, the former carriage house, is 1,496 SF consisting of a 2bd/2ba guest apartment, personal gym, and pool side Florida room with bath. The estate was built by C.B. Pendleton in 1885. Mr. Pendleton was a prominent politician/newspaper editor and his home was considered one of the finest mansions in Key West in the late 1800's."

I dug into my old shoebox and found several old photos that show this house in yesteryear.  Two aerial photos show the house when the house had a waterfront view of North Beach on what was then called Salt Pond Road.  Many years later a local politico-developer filled in the beach and built condos.  (Politicians always get to do things real people cannot do. It still happens today in Key West.) The Garrison Bight Marina is now located opposite this property.

The top aerial photo was taken around 1918. The next aerial was taken in the 1920s. The 1920s photo shows the Army barracks up to the right. The big square is the old parade ground. During World War I the house at 718 Eisenhower was used as bachelor officers quarters. The brass, like the politicians, always live better than the real folk. See the photo below taken on the north side of the front porch.  The staircase is one of several that lead to the lush gardens that flank this property today. (Notice the hammock behind the young officer!)

The color photo above shows the same area about 96 years later.  This old house is as grand, or maybe even more grand, than it was over a century ago.  The house is as solid and strong as an owner could want. It has stood the test of time. The interiors reflect an era when big men built big houses to show their place in society.  The room sizes and interiors are more than impressive.

A gentleman's parlor with deep rich bookcases and trophy walls plus the kitchen complete the main level.  A massive staircase leads to the second floor where a wide hallway and a set of French doors with paladin windows open out to the second floor balcony that overlooks the water on the far side of the street. The master suite is huge. Too bad I took my peanut size camera and cannot show you how grand the spaces are.

A two story guest cottage complete with living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms and a gym is located at the rear just off the swimming pool and rear gardens.  This is the perfect place for your guests or hanger-on relatives.  CLICK HERE to view more photos.

718 Eisenhower Drive is now offered at $2,475,000. CLICK HERE to view the Key West Association of Realtors mls datasheet and listing photos.  Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to schedule a private showing of this Key West grand dame.  I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.