923 Eaton Street - Old Town - Key West

New to the market after a recent update is 923 Eaton Street in Key West, Florida. This home and the house next door at 921 Eaton Street are the embodiment quintessential Key West cottage style architecture. In fact, the house at 921 Eaton Street was the the cover photo for Alex Caemmerer's The Houses of Key West. Caemmerer wrote "What particularly impressed me at that time, although many of these houses were small and owned by people of modest means - mostly local workers, they had a simplicity of line and an aura of elegance and dignity which had the same effect on one as does, for instance, a simple Bach tune."

Today the two homes on Eaton Street stand side by side and continue to exude an aura of simple elegance.  923 Eaton Street is a two bedroom, two bath house with 1320 sq ft of living space situated on a large 2813 sq ft lot in Old Town. 

When you first enter this house you immediately appreciate the Dade County Pine walls and ceiling. The rippled glass in the windows distorts the views of the houses across the street just a wee bit. While the house is old, it now does not seem old. It is refreshed! The floors are newer and look wonderful. The rear wall was painted a pale blue to add contras to this deep wood room. When you pass from the living room and move through toward the rear of the main floor you suddenly see a wide opening out to the rear yard which is wide and deep and offers the possibilities of adding a pool, a small cottage, or maybe both. 

Just off the kitchen is a full bath. I know that's a bit odd, but this is an old house and you sometimes make do with what you have. There is an adjacent room which is currently used as the laundry room and storage room. This space could possibly be expanded and perhaps made into a ground level bedroom. The back of the house does not currently have a covered back area. A new owner might add a covered deck with a small extension of the house. 

The second floor has a new bathroom and both bedrooms were updated. The second floor landing is bright and cheery.  The bedrooms have been cleaned and painted. New wall to wall carpeting was added to reduce the amount of wood surfaces.  It worked!  A prior owner replaced the old scuttle visible in the black and white photo taken about fifty years ago. That area now has a skylight that illuminates what might otherwise be a dark bedroom. This house is super clean and ready for a new owner to move right in.923 Eaton Street is offered for sale at $598,900. CLICK HERE to see the Key West mls data sheet and listing photos.

I took more photos of this simple, elegant, and cute Key West cottage home with several possibilities for future improvements. But it is in move-in condition now.  CLICK HERE to see the photos and then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to schedule a showing.  I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.

1112 Virginia Street - Key West

The two story temple style home located at 1112 Virginia Street in Old Town Key West may appeal to a variety of potential buyers because it has multiple possibilities for future use. 

The black and white photo above was taken in 1965. (A notation on the back of the photo says the house was built tin 1895.)  I looked at the historic Sanborn Fire Maps and found this house identified as "1202 Virginia Street" in the 1912 edition. A smaller house was shown at the same location on an earlier map but that house was smaller and faced toward Varela Street (the cross street) which leads me to conclude the smaller house was razed or moved to make way for this much larger property. Also, the lot here is quite large for this part of town. Both the old black and white and the current color photos show the big open lot space to the east of the building which is where a new owner might place a pool or parking. The corner lot is 3587 sq ft. According to the Property Appraiser, the house is 1982 sq ft, but that does not include the third floor loft living space.

 1112 Virginia Street is a legal duplex. The property has recently been totally painted inside and outside. Two new kitchens and baths were added. There are two distinct entries, living spaces, and so on. A new owner could live in one space and rent the other. Or an investor could rent both.  Alternatively, a new owner could gut the place and redo it like so many of the other grand houses in Key West.   A total renovation would be a big project, because this is a really big house.   This house has the quite large lot that provides more than enough room for a large pool and garden.While this house itself is not "grand", the architecture is and the outdoor space is much larger than you will likely find in the entire Old Town area.

The listing Realtor describes this property like this:

"Recently renovated duplex on a large corner lot in Old Town. Two legal units with new kitchens and baths-both with stainless steel appliances, new cabinets and granite countertops. The downstairs is a 2BR/1BA with original and new wood floors. The upstairs unit is a massive 1BR/1.5BA, with cathedral ceilings and a third floor loft area with two separate spaces. Great income potential or conversion to a single family or condos. Each unit has original Dade pine, high ceilings, its own washer and dryer and private porches. Off street parking, large yard with working well, outdoor shower and room for a pool (permit and plans in place)."

The second floor is pretty amazing. Access is via a rear entry off the Varela Street side.  The second floor rear landing is just wonderful. You get a great view of the neighboring houses.  There is very charming front porch which has equally beautiful views of this neighborhood.

Sandwiched between the two porches is the second floor apartment which has also been updated. There is an internal stairway to access the former attic which has an open loft living and sleeping area plus an additional bathroom.  The listing agent says the loft is not counted in the total square footage of the building.

Entry to second floor apartment is through the kitchen

The second floor apartment with the finished attic space reminds me a lot about the way many of our old houses were first renovated back in the 1980s and 1990s. Some parts of the old house like the interior layout, exterior siding, and windows were left in original condition while the important parts like the kitchens and baths were updated. The spaces are clean and utilitarian. This apartment, like the first floor place, would rent in a heartbeat. Both units have two great outdoor living areas with great views. Locals would love to rent either unit.


I took a lot of photos of this property which you can see if you CLICK HERE.

1112 Virginia Street is located one block west of Sandy's Cafe on White Street. Bayview Park, Fausto's Food Palace, several gyms, and yoga studios are all located within a three minute walk from the house.  Duval Street is a five to seven minute walk. Higg's Beach will take about the same time to walk, but you could get there quicker by bike.

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 of this property.   I am a buyers agent and afull time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. Let me help you find your place in Paradise. 

Key West Life is Never Predictable

There are two things I love about Key West: our wonderful weather and that life never is predictable. Take for example an incident that occurred a few years back when I was riding my bike to the gym. I was riding my bike to the gym around 6:00 AM while it was still very dark outside. Just after I passed the El Patio Motel I saw a young man in his early 20s walking down the street. He was totally nude. He walked to my left. I looked back. Yep, he was buck naked. No doubt about it. I thought to myself that's too odd even for Key West. I circled the block and found a public phone at the youth hostel on South Street where I called the police. The operator asked me to describe the naked man. How was I supposed to answer that?

I got back on my bike and rode back to the corner of Reynolds and Washington Street which was the area where the nude dude should have reached by that point. I saw a young woman at the bus stop and asked if she had seen the nude man. She had. She said he disappeared behind some houses and asked me to wait with her until her bus came or the police arrived. I did.

About 5 to 10 minutes elapsed before the police finally arrived. The nude man had totally vanished at this point. I flagged the cop's attention  He got out of his car to ask why I called the police. I started to describe what  I had seen earlier. Then I noticed the unclad lad emerge from between two apartment buildings. As I write this I just recalled the guy was then carrying a baseball bat. He did not have that before.  The cop saw him and walked toward him with his flashlight drawn and said "What in the hell do you think you're doing?" He took the kid to the pokey. Later that day I looked at the Monroe County Sheriff's office website. The naked bat boy was being held on a mental health hold.

 You never know what you will see in Key West. That's just part of the fun about living in Paradise.

If you are thinking of buying a place in Key West please consider working with me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, email: kw1101v@aol.com.  I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.