1120 Curry Lane - Hidden Potential in Old Town - Key West

I will bet you that a lot of potential house buyers who have been scouring the Key West Association of Realtors mls website have seen the listing at 1120 Curry Lane and have no idea where it is.  If you do a Google Search and see an aerial view you will quickly learn that it is located on a one-way lane that runs parallel between Fleming Street to the north and Southard Street to the south.  You enter from White Street - about 100 feet to east and exit at Frances Street at the west. Curry Lane truly is one of the slow lanes of Key West because so few people know where it is or have any reason to go there other than to go home.  That means is it quite. Some may think it is too far from Duval Street. Nay, I say. I think a normal person could walk to Duval in 8 to 10 minutes or be at the historic seaport in 7 minutes or so.  (There are normal people in Key West - sometimes it may not look like it, but there really are some.)

If you have been reading my blog in recent months I have taken to exploring the old Sanborn Fire Maps of Key West to determine the approximate date when an old house I write about was built. Most of our public records were destroyed in the great fire. Workers from the WPA during the Great Depression created new records but affixed an imprecise date during or near the Depression as to the date when a particular house was built. We all know government work sometimes is nonsensical.  The government says 1120 Curry Lane was built in 1930.  The house did not exist in the 1889 Sanborn Map but it was there in 1899. So the house was built during that time. See a photo of the house as it appeared nearly fifty years ago and compare it with a recent photo.

The white picket fence is gone as is the standard white on white paint job. But the main house is pretty much the same today on the outside as it probably was when built. The interiors, however, are different by a long shot and today there is a two story guest cottage and pool spa at the rear..Most of the interiors appear to have been updated in the past 15 to 20 years.  Please take a look at the photos below and image how you might give this old house a new look. Maybe you will agree with me that 1120 Curry Lane has some hidden potential.

The kitchen is probably going to be the space where most folks will socialize. The space is quite large and offers views of the rear deck and spa. The poo, however, is located behind the guest cottage to the rear.

There are two quite large bedrooms on the second floor. Each has direct access to a Jack and Jill bath.  If I owned this house I would use the front bedroom with loft as the master suite because it has a really nice second floor front porch to sit and watch pretty much nothing.  However, if you have little kids they would probably be pestering you all the time to use the loft area as a fort. I might even go up there myself and pretend.  Other than Fantasy Fest, do you ever pretend?  Ah, the things we forget how to do when we grow up.

The two story guest cottage is plenty fine as is, but I would love to see what a couple of gay decorators could do to this place. And I don't think it would take too much money to transform this place into something sensational.  This is the money space if you have any intentions of renting the property as a vacation rental because the pool with the magnificent canopy is right out the back door.

I took more photos which you can see if you CLICK HERE. Please take a look. You will see different views of the rooms and spaces.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls data sheet on this home which is offered at $1,200,000. it is 1720 sq ft of living space in the two buildings. The lot is 36' x 102' or 3799 sq ft. The listing Realtor is seeking offers.  I told him I think the asking price is aggressively high. He said to ask potential buyers to submit an offer.  That is how deals are made, Dear Reader, you see something you like and do the dance. 

If you would like to see 1120 Curry Lane or any other house in Key West, please contact me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642.  I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc. Let me help you find your place in Paradise.

4 Pinder Lane - Major Price Reduction - Key West

This Key West property is a singular sensation because of its unique history, architecture, location, and usage. The original home was built in 1859 and was updated and expanded with contemporary additions in the 1970s. It has a rich and colorful history that is as eclectic as the guests who have wined and dined in this home which for decades was the center of the Key West glitterati universe. Today the estate sized property is available at a new low price of only $1,975,000.  CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet and to view more listing photos.

4 Pinder Lane as it appeared in 1965

 I first saw this property about five years ago when it was listed (together with an adjacent cottage that has since been sold) at the then asking price of $4.5 million. My buyers were so taken by this property that they required a second visit that evening to see how home looks in the nighttime.  "Wow!" would be an appropriate description.  This property is simply unforgettable and very romantic in the evening!

If you have been following the Key West real estate market regularly, you must have noticed that many Old Town houses are referred to as 'quintessential Key West cottages'. 4 Pinder Lane isn't one of those. It is the opposite. The house is a blend of a really old historic Key West home which has been updated with mid-20th Century additions. The house is both sophisticated and grand, but it still has small intimate spaces for normal living. The house has 2657 sq ft of living space situated on an irregular 9887 sq ft lot located at the end of a lane surrounded by some very pricey homes.

The house as presently configured has two bedrooms. Both bedrooms are located on the second floor of the older portion of the house. They share one bath and an adjacent (huge) walk-in closet.  There is room, however, to add a guest cottage at the rear where you could construct a third guest bedroom and bath.  The master bedroom has a vaulted ceiling and two Romeo and Juliet balconies. One balcony looks down onto 1970's living room to the north.  The other balcony looks down to the new kitchen addition to the east.

View from Romeo and Juliet balcony off master bedroom

Note the seamless transition between living area to the pool and deck area

The main living area has an 18' vaulted ceiling with a glass wall of windows and doors that frame the entire room and that look out to the very large pool and gardens. The design is so comfortable and informal that you immediately feel welcome in this wonderful living space. The brick floors of the living room make a seamless transition to the pool area which also has brick pavers. It is as if the outdoors is part of the indoors - only the outdoors 'ceiling' is boundless. The grounds are totally (but subtly) lit at night.  I remember the nighttime showing from several years ago when the pool area and gardens at night just screamed to host a really swank cocktail party with a hundred of one's closest friends.  That's exactly what happened in days of yore.

Garden extends 15 feet beyond the lengthy pool

Add a second story above Pool bath house to create new guest bedroom

The kitchen and dining area are in a separate wing of the house which also has a separate vaulted ceiling. In most houses the kitchen is the 'gathering' where family and friends talk (and drink) while the chef cooks. This kitchen is extra large and designed for entertaining. Multiple sets of French doors open out to a rear garden area. CLICK HERE to view a slide show of photos of the house and grounds. There is an existing cottage at the rear of this garden which could be the site of a new guest cottage.

Kitchen was designed for entertaining

Rear deck overlooks the bricked courtyard on the east side of the property

Both the living room and kitchen have what I call Romeo and Juliet balconies that look down from the second floor core of the house where the two bedrooms are located. I can just see a Jules or Juliet up in the bedrooms running from balcony to balcony calling out to Romeo, Rome, wherefore art thou, Rome? amid all the people below attending some big gala.

The listing Realtor describes 4 Pinder Lane like this way:

"Just Reduced! Priced To Sell! On one of Old Town's biggest lots, just under 1/4 acre, luxuriously renovated & expanded, this home on the Nat'l Registry of Historic Places is a sweeping sophisticated sanctuary ideal for entertaining. A living rm w/18ft ceiling & fireplace opens through a wall of windows to lush gardens & huge pool w/cabana bar, poolside bath/dressing rm. In addition to a gracious dining rm, an enormous eat-in chef's kitchen wrapped in 18ft ceiling w/windows & French doors. There are 2 Bosch ovens & dishwashers, Subzero fridge, 2 sinks & ice maker. Upstairs the master suite w/dressing rm + sitting rm/ & orig. 3rd bedroom opens to a roof-top sundeck. 2 car parking, lg storage cottage w/ample room to add guest house."

The phrase "Sensational Old Key West history at its best!" refers to the legendary writers, artists, actors, and Key Westers that frequented this one-of-a-kind property over the years. Sharon Well's author of "See Key West" wrote that the owner of 4 Pinder Lane "introduced Tallulah Bankhead to the island. Clad in flowery pedal-pushers, she could sometimes be seen at Fausto’s Food Palace." Cary Grant, Leonard Bernstein, Burt Reynolds, Anne Jackson and Eli Wallach,Tony Curtis, Roy Schieder, Peter Allen and authors Tennessee William, James Kirkwood, James Leo Herlihy, and Evan Rhodes are among the many others who were guests at this home.

Pinder Lane is another slow lane in Key West located in the 500 block of William Street. It dead ends about 250 feet east of William Street where the lane ends at 4 Pinder Lane. Two other homes are located on Pinder Lane as well as a very fancy guest cottage which recently became an extension of the main house located on William Street. An abutting neighbor on Southard Street purchased a vacant lot on Pinder Lane to create off street parking.  If you buy 4 Pinder Lane you will have some mighty fine neighbors.

4 Pinder Lane is now listed, but not by me, at the reduced asking price of $1,975,000.  Please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to schedule a private showing of this singular sensation.  I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc.

609 Angela Street - Solares Hill Eyebrow House - Key West

609 Angela Street is located near the tippy top of Solares Hill in Old Town Key West.  I dug deep into the old shoe box and found a photo taken in 1965 with a note stating this house was built in 1889.

 Eyebrow houses are unique to Key West. They sort of look like  tall salt boxes with a roof that extends over the front porch.  The second floor front wall is shorter than the rear because of the steep roof angle. The second floor windows are typically located just about at floor level. From the street the second floor windows appear rather short as the roof overhang protects open windows from rain or wind.  This projection shields the windows from rain or wind which normally falls down to the earth. Thus the windows can stay open most of the time and provide natural air flow without letting rain into the house.

Almost all (but not absolutely all) eyebrow houses were laid out pretty much the same.  The main entry is located in the center of the house with a hallway that led straight to the rear. On the main level the primary living area was located on either side of the entry hall. Upstairs you would find two bedrooms.  In many instances in old days a cook house would have been located in a detached building at the rear.  Some eyebrow houses in their original form were smaller and less ornate than others. And, you guessed it, some are quite large and very ornate. Some eyebrow houses have been modified and have had additions added to the backside where bathrooms now exist.  That is not the case in this home. The two second floor baths use the large bathroom on the main floor.

 It is the additions and renovations that have occurred over the decades that now distinguish these special Key West homes even more.  Some eyebrow houses have dormers added to the rear or a shed roof added to the rear that extended the second floor bedrooms and provided room for a bath. This house got a second floor balcony off the west side which provides a shady spot for the family auto and a place to get a great Key West tan. A main floor addition added a new main level bath, kitchen, and dining room plus an extra large main level porch on the east side of the home. A later addition added the new master suite at the rear which has French doors that open out to a covered porch and the swimming pool.

Window looks out to the swimming pool!

  609 Angels Street has 2181 sq ft of living space which includes four bedrooms and two baths. The lot is extra large, especially for this part of Old Town. There is even off street parking for three vehicles. The obligatory white picket fence and stately street appeal make this a home serious buyers ought to see. This home is offered at $1,395,000.  CLICK HERE to view the Key West mls datasheet on 609 Angela Street and to view listing photos.  I took more photos which you can see if you CLICK HERE.

I gotta tell you the view from the front door is pretty impressive as well. The former home of  Philip Burton (the adoptive father of actor Richard Burton's) is located across the street. Liz and Dick would come to Key West and stay at Phillip's house.  Other houses on this one way street are a mix of Cigar Maker cottages, a smattering of recently constructed homes near the corner at Simonton Street, and a couple of impressive Conch houses. The Phillip Burton house is the doozy of the neighborhood, however.

If you would like to see this home or any other property in Key West, please contact me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 or send me an email at kw1101v@aol.com. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Coastal Realty, Inc.  Let me help you find your place in Paradise.