611 William Street, Key West

The listing Realtor describes 611 William Street this way:

"Located on one of the most sought after streets in Key West, this Classic Revival Home has endless possibilities. The home boasts 3336 sq. feet of living space with wonderful porches both upstairs and down, this three-unit property could quickly return to its grand dame single family home roots. Or you could maintain it as it is. Move in today, live in one of the units and continue renting the other two. The property, with Dade County pine throughout, includes three units: a two-bedroom, two-bath owners' home on the ground floor, opening onto the magnificent outdoor dining and entertaining areas; a two bedroom, two-bath home on the second & third floors that overlooks peaceful William Street from a large and welcoming balcony and boasts a magnificent roof deck with 360 degree views of Old town. In addition, a perfectly sweet, one-bedroom, one bath cottage-style unit that's just meant for cozy, comfortable living. The property has been beautifully updated and maintained. It's move-in ready, of course, but the discerning buyer will see the potential for re-thinking whether a single-family home might not be just perfect. And, there's the possibility a new owner might want to consider keeping the upstairs unit and incorporating the one-bedroom space elsewhere. See what we mean about possibilities? X500 Flood Zone and off street parking make this a perfect Key West address!"

Let's look at this big house the way a stranger might as he approaches the front door. Well, there are three doors (referred to as "bays") when viewing historic architecture. Each door has a pediment and wooden shutters. This tells us that the house was likely built to a higher standard than other houses of its era. There are numbers on two of the doors which suggest there are at least two living units accessed from the three front doors. The stained glass window over the left door suggests that door probably is the entrance to a stairway to the second floor and that the middle door is the primary entrance to the first floor living space. The right door is for decoration and in earlier days provided both architectural symmetry and ventilation.  The assumptions prove true in this house which has a first floor one bedroom apartment. The living rooms is seen in the above photo. Part of the bedroom can be seen as well. The kitchen and private bath are not visible in any other photos. Remember this space later as we look at size and price.

The top photo of today's blog shows a gated parking space at the left front of the property followed by a tall white picket fence that separates the parking space from the side garden area which wraps around to the rear where there is a second first floor apartment with two bedrooms, living room, kitchen, and covered outdoor loggia.  

That left front door stairway delivers the stranger to the second floor which appears immense when seen for the first time. The  walls and ceiling a Dade County Pine painted white and which re dramatically offset by the dark stained wood floors and treads and railings on staircase leading to the third floor. Three bay doors open out to the covered second floor front porch which overlooks William Street. Broadway impresario Jerry Herman used to live across the street at 626 William. Shel Silverstein's home was located two doors north at 620 William Street.

The doorway at the the stairs leads into the kitchen and dining area and then into a bedroom and bathroom. Notice the pitch of the roof as it continues into the bedroom. While these spaces look contemporary, the old scuttle reminds us this is a really old house adapted to modern living. It works.

The third floor has a second bedroom and bath plus a sunny rooftop deck which overlooks many of the neighboring homes.  Key West has height restrictions on all new buildings and renovations. I seriously doubt that any one will ever be able see onto this roof top deck or view anything that ever happens here.

According to the Monroe County Property Appraiser 611 William Street has 2632 sq ft of living space under air conditioning (not including porches or open living spaces) and sits on a 43.83' X 80' (3608 sq ft) lot. I searched the Historic Sanborn Fire Maps to see if I could determine the approximate time this home was built. The entire area of William Margaret Streets south of Southard was omitted from the 1889 map. However, 611 William Street did appear on the 1899 map. That map showed what appears to be the front two story grand conch house (spectacular in layout) together with an attached square structure plus two out buildings. (The out buildings no longer exist.) What looks like a walking lane was located between 607 and 611 William. The lane used to lead to a house identified on the map as 708 1/2 Southard Street.   (If there was a lane, it no longer exists.)  The houses which faced onto Southard and Margaret Street were demolished years ago when the Harris High School on Southard Street was built.  Today the old high school and surrounding grounds are for sale. Generations of locals attended this school. Expect only a great future for this property.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and listing photos of 611 William Street which is offered at $1,595,000.  This property is perfectly livable as is.  It appears to have been property maintained for years. I do think a new owner might seriously consider taking this property back to single family residence.  It would be simple to convert the multi-family living spaces into a large single family home. I think the side yard may have enough space to build a small pool, especially if the existing rear covered area were opened to eliminate the hard surface areas.  In this instance, less really would lead to more. Pleas call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule a personal visit to view this home, not as a stranger but as a potential owner.

I dug into my old shoe box and found a photo of 611 William Street taken in 1965 with the notation that the house was built circa 1889. I sold the house next door to the south (613 William Street) a few years ago. That delightful place is referred to as The Pink House.The styles are totally opposite: 611 William is big and somewhat imposing while 613 William, a restored cigar maker cottage, is smaller in size and more demur all together. This block has a variety of homes including a classic eyebrow, a couple of what we call "great houses", and several  smaller cottage style homes like 608 William Street pictured below. Some homes have postage stamp lots while others have huge rear yards accompanied by pools, guest cottages, and the like.

1500 Albury Street, Key West Florida - Open House Today

Open House Today

11:00 AM - 2:00 PM

1500 Albury Street, Key West

Brand New 2240 Square Foot Smart House, Designer Kitchen, 4 Bedrooms, 3 1/2 Bath Home with 20 Foot Pool with Waterfall, Large Fenced Corner Lot with Gated Parking, and so much more.

Preferred Properties Key West    520 Southard Street, Key West, Fl 33040  305-294-3040

Co-listed by Cory Held, Jeffrey Grosky, and Gary Thomas

1403 Pine Street, Key West

Just Listed 1403 Pine Street located in the quiet Meadows Area of Key West. I saw the interior of this home around sunset yesterday afternoon. The sun was about to set over at Mallory Square with hundreds of on-lookers snapping photos. A potential buyer, the listing agent, and I were the only people on this block. It was so quiet you could hear nothing. And that is part of the charm of this neighborhood which is close to all of Old Town but just far enough away.

The listing Realtor, not me, describes the home this way:

"This turn of the century classic conch home has an expansive covered front porch, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, large living and dining room, den, and updated kitchen. There is a separate 2 story 1 bedroom apartment complete with kitchen, bath, and covered porch. The property is fenced with a lovely side garden and off street parking is available. The home is in good condition."

The view from the front porch is a bit obscured by the tropical foliage at the front. The seating area peers out to quiet Pine Street through arches adorned with painted palms while the ceiling was painted sky blue. The arch theme continues inside the home where a second arch separates the living room from the dining area. Two bedrooms are located to the right of the dining area separated by two bathrooms in the middle. The listing Realtor believes there is Dade County Pine under the current wall surfaces.  I am often an advocate for renovation. This place looks just fine as is.

The updated kitchen and informal dining area is located at the rear where a side door opens out to courtyard. A small potting area is located on one side of the semi-enclosed laundry area. 

The adjacent guest cottage ought to be featured on HGTV's Tiny House. It is so cute. The main entry is on ground level where the living room is located followed by dining area and kitchen. An interior stairway leads up to the bedroom and bathroom. There is a covered front porch located off the bedroom which looks down to the garden where there is an old rock fountain complete with water trail. The above photo shows the double gate where a new owner could  use this space for off street parking. I think there may be room for a pool. There are lots of rules that deal with land use, setbacks, etcetera. So what I think is of no consequence. CLICK HERE to view more photos I took of this property.

I looked through my old shoebox and found two photos which referenced 1403 Pine Street. The first and most obvious was the black and white photo below taken in 1965. It shows the main house in front together with the two story cottage at the rear. I also found a copy of the waterfront pass of Robert Pritchard who lived at 1403  Pine Street in 1918. Young Pritchard's family owned the Pritchard Funeral Parlor located nearby at 828 White Street. (That building was converted into condominiums a few years ago. See the historic photo below.) The waterfront pass was issued to locals who worked at the Key West waterfront during wartime. "This is a collection of nearly 600 military passes issued to civilian workers in Key West during WWI. Fields on the passes include name, occupation, nationality, employer. They should be useful for genealogists and historical researchers of all disciplines." This collection was created by Tom Hambright of the Monroe County Library with additional help from Anne Layton Rice. My guess is that Robert Pritchard was probably born around 1900. His pass identified him as a Western Union Telegraph messenger. I found reference to what I believe to be his death in Key West in 1922.

Literary giant John Dos Passos used to live next door at 1401 Pine Street. According to the Key West Literary Seminar "John Dos Passos, author of the U.S.A. trilogy and many other works, first visited Key West in the 1920s and told his friend Ernest Hemingway about the place. During the winter of 1934, Dos Passos and his wife lived in this house at 1401 Pine St., then the outskirts of town." Author J. Willis Burke reports in The Streets of Key West "No doubt, John dos Passos, who lived at 1401 Pine during the 1930s, made the fifteen minute walk (to downtown Key West) often. After one nocturnal amble, he arrived at Hemingway's house and met his future wife, Kate, for the first time. Perhaps it was kismet: "Dos" had, after all, been the one to suggest to "ole Hem" give Key West a try if he was looking for a warm place "to dry out his bones." In The Best of Times Dos Passos wrote "I've forgotten whether I first told Hem about Key West or whether he found out on his own. Dos Passos refers to Key West as dreamlike and "in those days Key West really was an island...It was like no other place in the world."

Hem and Dos

The point of my little little literary diversion is to assure readers Key West was and still is a place of mystical proportions. The island really was and still is an island out in the middle of the ocean as I like to describe it.  You don't just decide to stop by. It takes effort and time to get here. But once you are here, you begin to decompress from what is going on out there in the rest of the world. I meet a lot of potential buyers from all over the place. Some ask me what I do when I am not selling houses. I reply "nothing" which astonishes most. To me being in Key West is enough. It is an end. Others might look at it as a beginning. I did when I moved here. But I am satisfied with the island and myself just as we are. 

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet on 1403 Pine Street, Key West which is offered at $890,000. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule a private showing of this delightful home. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.

1019 Elgin Lane, Key West - A Reinterpreted Old House

1019 Elgin Lane  Key West  2017

I wrote about 1019 Elgin Lane in April 2015 when I described is as a bank property "located in a desirable Old Town location near the Historic Seaport." I was shocked and delighted in the transformation from what was a mess into a stunning contemporary renovation. In my 2015 blog I showed the original building s it appeared in a 1965 photo and a photo I took at that time.

1019 Elgin Lane Key West  1965

1019 Elgin Lane Key West   2015

The listing Realtor describes the freshly renovated property as a

"Stunning contemporary Renovation of Elevated Historic home located on Picturesque Elgin Lane just steps from the Historic Seaport. With 3BD/3BA. the beautiful interior finishes create a luxurious beach ambiance. Soaring Ceilings combined with a Wall of Impact Doors marries the Sun Filled Patio and private Dipping Pool to living and Kitchen. Gorgeous Master on Second floor with ensuite Bath and an enviable large Walk in closet. Third bedroom is located on third floor, with beautiful views of the Key West Rooftops. With One Off Street Parking Spot, this brand Newly restored home qualifies as the Quintessential Key West Retreat."  

During the renovation process the building was elevated to comply with FEMA and building code requirements. Electric, pluming, and HVAC were replaced as were all interior wood walls, flooring, and bathrooms. A pool with waterfall plus surrounding fencing and decking were added. These features mean your insurance policies will be more affordable and your maintenance costs will be less expensive. Insulation and construction features mean your costs of electricity will also be less.

Main floor bath

The main floor bedroom is located adjacent to the staircase. The main floor bath is located off the kitchen and next to the main entry. 

Master bath

Second guest bath

The master suite is located on the second floor and it is anything but petite.  The en-suite bath has floating cabinetry and double sinks plus an extra large shower.  There is also a large walk-in closet.

The third floor bedroom runs the length of the house from south to north. This a lot of space no matter how it may appear in the photo.  I saw the house on a cloudy day (the first in a long time). But I took a couple of photos looking toward the Historic Seaport to the north and down onto Elgin Lane to the south.

Looking north to the historic seaport

Looking down onto Elgin Lane

This owner did everything right. This place is move-in ready and should sell quickly. The place has all new everything - mechanical, interiors, roof, pool, and so forth. The spaces and uses are well thought out and attractively done. The materials are contemporary in style and functionality. Most of the home on this block have been renovated in the past decade and would be considered as up graded when compared to many homes in the Old Town area. This house would make a good monthly vacation rental because of the three bedrooms, three baths, pool, and parking plus the terrific location near the seaport. 

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and more listing photos of 1019 Elgin Lane Key West. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to set up a private showing.  I think you will love this house and its great Old Town location. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West.