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 it will probably require that you pass through the gate at the end of the walking lane and enter into the front yard before you fall in love. And after that all hope is lost for you will surely be truly, madly, deeply in love with this wonderful Key West home.
Today's home rests at the very end of Love Lane in Old Town Key West. You'll fall in love with this place as soon as you pass through the gate and enter into the front yard which Leslie Linsley described in her book Key West Houses 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 it is so difficult to find. I have mentioned before somewhere in this blog that there are three "legs" to Love Lane. If you walk of drive on Southard Street you will find a Love Lane sign midway between William and Elizabeth Streets on the north side of the street. If you walk down the lane which is wide enough to accommodate a car you will see that the lane abruptly ends where a house sits. And if you are walking or driving on 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 looked to the south side of the street you would find a tiny little strip of ground not much wider than the sidewalk on which it occupies, a lane also called Love. 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."
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 which of the rooms is my most favorite and then realized I couldn't decide which one that might be. So instead I'll throw up some photos I took 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 library garden and front porch, and the quiet little reading nook.
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| Pine walls were whitewashed which allowed the pink tones of the wood to show through. Louvered cedar doors 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 room 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 and the gauzy front bedroom made me want to peer through the shutters out to the pool. And then there is that insane kitchen with the soaring ceiling and handmade cedar cabinets. Nothing store bought 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. It 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.
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. 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!
