Before It Was Made Perfect

I was rummaging around my old shoebox and found some photos of the old Albury House on Southard Street. The house was purchased over a decade ago but it still seems like it was only a couple of years. It is absolutely perfect now. But it was totally different in 2009 when I took these photos. Enjoy.

  

The back side of the house looked like it might fall off. It didn't. A pool would be built in the open space. The old kitchen was made new with doors that open wide to view the pool. But back 2009 kitchen was but a wreck of a relic. And that is why this house was so incredible before it was made perfect.

 I sell houses to rich people because nobody else can afford them.

1009 Southard Street, Key West - A Modest Proposal

 

1009 Southard Street, Key West, Florida as it appears today on one of the most important blocks as far as Key West architecture is concerned. I wrote about this house in my blog many years ago. I recently showed it and was reminded of all the potential this house had then and has now. Like many old homes in Key West it was re-purposed by former owners many years ago but retains critical usage advantages today that give a future owner multiple options.  When we look at the historic photos below you will see how the two buildings changed and how those changes may make this property more valuable than it would seem.

The 1965 photo shows us how much the house changed since even then. The screens were removed opening the first floor front porch. A second level porch was added. An existing covered second floor porch was enclosed which expanded the original second floor living space. A separate second level porch extends outward with a stairway that leads down toward the back of the house. (That stairway flow now leads toward the front of the property.) This shows us that the original single family Conch house was already made into at least two living units: one up and one down with separate entrances. That still exists today. But there is more.

 

The above photos show the legal existing bedroom and bath in present day rear cottage and garage. You; will see interior later. I checked the Historic Sanborn Fire Maps which show that 1009 Southard Street existed at least as of 1889. The garage appeared on the 1892 map. This irregular rectangle lot is 6,944 Sq FT and measures 136 Ft long and 52 Ft wide at the rear. That is huge in Old Town and explains why the east side yard is so expansive and is the present day entry garden into this lovely property.

Not into the two distant past a separate pool on the east side was removed and the space became the garden and formal entry into the downstairs living area.  I think the renovations were done in the 1980s or early 1990s as they reflect the colors and some of fixtures used then. Others are more current but the unification of the gabled cottage with a lower angled roof in the living suggests that to me. We will see an exterior view later.

The master bedroom of the first floor unit is so comfortable. It actually made me feel like I was inside a luxury hotel room. The front porch is for sitting only as the formal entry is on the side. Look at the shutters. They appear to original to the house and are functional. They may be cypress wood. Not sure but I suspect they are as that was common years ago. Also seen are current metal plates to which metal panels are affixed to get wind storm insurance credits. 

The second floor apartment enters from the west side of the house and has three bedrooms (front shown in above photo) plus two more on the third floor. There is an internal unit stair to those units. I checked and there is no view of the pool from the second or third floor. The present owner rented that apartment for $3,035 per month. Vacant now.

The pool photos show the rear renovation where the current downstairs living, dining, and kitchen are located. That spaces has two bedrooms and two baths. The photos also show huge decks with sunny views but no privacy invasions by abutting houses. The one time garage is now one bedroom guest bedroom with private bath. The other side is still a garage. That space is a legal bedroom which if rented annually should bring in $1200 to $1500 per month. 

SOUTHARD STREET in the 1960s

I have seen so many of the homes on Southard Street benefit from renovation over the years. This is one house that might benefit from a new renovation or conversion into a single family house. It really has so many potential possibilities. CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS datasheet and more listing photos. Offered for sale at $2,799,000. Then please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642, to schedule a private showing. I am a full time Realtor and buyers agent at Preferred Properties Key West. 

401 South Street, Key West - New Lower Price on One-of-a-Kind Property

 

"Through the crystal-clear air Lori could hear the ringing of the agent's bell...that had begun when the package had first been sighted, carefully picking it's way past the outer reefs toward the lighthouse at Whitehead's Point."

          - Thelma Strabel, Reap the Wild Wind

 401 South Street, Key West sits opposite what was once called Whitehead's Point. Tourists from all over the world come here to take photos as a remembrance of the best vacation of their lives. I would suggest the ideal buyer must really like people because people will stand across the street from your home every day to take photos of themselves for as long as you own the property - or as I did the wee hours of the morning when nobody, not even the who wakes up our chickens, was awake.

But at night when the tourists have moved down to Mallory Square to view the amazing Key West sunset, you will have the view of the old Whitehead's Point to yourself.  You can watch the nightly sunset from your main level or second floor balcony with a view nobody in Key West can ever have. The balmy breezes from the Atlantic Ocean will brush the palms that flank this corner property.  At night after the tourists are gone you will hear the sound of tiny waves as they lap the coral rock where South Street and Whitehead Street meet at the place now called the Southernmost Point. This is the yin and yang of this property.  

The original house is constructed of Indian Block, a man-made material similar to modern concrete block except that Indian Block has a finished decorative carved-rock aspect. Over the years the original front porch and second floor balcony were modernized as is shown in the 1965 black and white photo.   What you may not see unless you look at all the photos with care is that 401 South Street has three bays: The front bay is obscured by the enclosed front porch. The east side bay is not visible from the street whereas the west bay is quite prominent as it can be viewed by all.

The immediately above photo shows the front bay on the main floor. The house plus the rear bungalow have been divided into three legal living units. The first floor and second floor currently used as separate apartments and are pretty much carbon copies of each other as to interior layout. The original interior staircase has been removed, but a portion of the stairs still remains. Re-installation of a staircase would be fairly simple were a new owner want to restore this home back to a single family residence.  Note the extra large crown molding that wraps the front bay. The crown molding can be found in all first floor rooms. I did not take a tape measure with me when I photographed this house. My guess is that the ceiling height on the main floor is at least ten feet tall.

The above photo was taken in the dining room on the first floor. The west bay window is visible on the extreme left. The front porch is enclosed with screen. Even the screen can't diminish the view of the ocean.

The west second floor bay shows the superior condition of the Indian block construction. The next photo shows some of the original detailed stone work that is still in excellent condition. It would be interesting to see how a current day architect might reinterpret the original porches to restore some of the historic appeal of the house while retaining privacy for a new owner.

The views from the second floor deck are pretty impressive.  Imagine sipping your morning coffee from the second floor balcony before the tourists arrive.

A simple bungalow is located at the back far east side of the lot. This space is basically an Old Florida bungalow with grassy yard, palm trees, and louvers that keep the sun and rain out but that allow air and sunlight in.  Ralph Lauren would have a field day decorating this little gem. The bungalow would make the perfect guest cottage. There is plenty of room for a pool and still retain off street parking for two cars.

The main house and bungalow total 2845 sq ft of interior living space. The lot is 76' wide and 100' deep. There is room to expand the main house and bungalow. I took more photos and share historic photos I found which you may view if you.

CLICK HERE to view the Key West MLS sheet for 401 South Street, Key West now offered at $2,895,000. Photos in the MLS link show the house as it is today rather than when I photographed in 2014. Better than looking at photos or reading a blog, please call me, Gary Thomas, 305-766-2642 to arrange a private showing of this special home. Today's blog is an update of one I wrote in 2014 when this house was for sale then. The current owner updated the house after that purchase. But it still remains three units. It deserves more. I am a buyers agent and a full time Realtor at Preferred Properties Key West. 

 

Key West Real Estate Throwback Thursday No 35

from November 3, 2008

Believe in Change

That freckle faced 17 year old kid on the right side of the photo is me way back in 1964. The guy next to me is now an attorney in Denver, and the girl on the end was my first love interest. We were at the old Stapleton Airport in Denver at a rally for President Lyndon Johnson. I was president of the Jeffco Teen Dems (Denver's western suburbs). We had a crew of about 120 teenagers that had been inspired by JFK who wanted to see his legacy continue under the new President. (That was before Johnson took us to the dark side in Viet Nam.) We were true believers in all that is good. We helped as best we could to see that LBJ won Colorado in 1964 election. 

 He won that race by a landslide. Big time. My view is that Johnson's landslide victory was a ratification by the American people to extend the promise of President Kennedy. The Republican candidate, Senator Barry Goldwater, was portrayed as a demon and a war monger. Looking back more than 40 years later I don't know if anybody could have beat LBJ. Ronald Reagan pulled off a similar landslide in 1980 when he decimated sitting President Jimmy Carter. Reagan's entrance into the White House was the beginning of a shift to the right in public policy. There was to be less government than envisioned by JFK & LBJ. 

Twenty-eight years have passed. Our world has been shaken by the events of September 11th, our involvement in a war without end in Iraq, the pernicious partisanship on both side of the aisle in Congress that keeps the peoples business from getting done, and the near collapse many segments of our economy. Everywhere people want change. It's not even about who is to blame. It is just to change the way things are done. After his election as President, LBJ got a lot of programs through Congress that President Kennedy had been unable to do including the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination in public facilities (restaurants and hotels), in government, and in employment, and it invalidated the Jim Crow laws in the southern U.S. It became illegal to compel segregation of the races in schools, housing, or hiring. It also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Prior to its passage I remember getting into screaming matches with white adult men who were opposed to this legislation. They are all old men now, if they are still living. I wonder if they are afraid of having a black man as President. They were afraid of having a black man having civil rights back then. 

I remember the collective sense of loss all Americans felt after September 11th. It was the worst day in my life, and I wasn't even there. I was in Key West. I knew things would never be the same again. I recall that later that day Republicans and Democrats stood in front of the US Capitol as the Speaker of the House said "Senators and House members, Democrats and Republicans will stand shoulder to shoulder to fight this evil that has perpetrated on this nation. We will stand together to make sure that those who have brought forth this evil deed will pay the price." And they did. For a while. I remember watching President Bush climb atop a pile of rubble at the site of the World Trade Center on September the 14th. He spoke with determination into the megaphone and said "I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!" No matter how much many of us disliked him or his policies or how he became President, he was our President. We stood behind him. We were one. 

 Seven years later the list of woes is endless: the two wars, the housing market collapse, the bailout, the recession or whatever you want to call what "it" is that we are living through, the loss of American jobs, the high cost of gas and its impact on everything we consume or use, the mounting national debt and the impending social security surge, the lack of affordable health care, the decline of American education, the loss of America's prestige in the world, the illegal aliens, and so on. The polls and pundits are predicting a landslide for both Obama and the Democrats in the House and Senate in tomorrow's election. I do not know a single person who wants our current way of living to continue. Everybody wants change. If the American public gives the new President a chance and stands behind him, like we did with President Bush after 911, maybe we will see the change we all want.

 October 2021 update. I remember thinking America changed when it elected President Obama. I thought we reckoned with our past and were ready to into a new era. I was wrong. Thirteen years later the half or the American public does not believe that Joe Biden even won the election. Elected officials across America are messing with our recovery from the pandemic with the goal of taking control of all vestiges of power in 2022 and 2024. Kinda scary stuff when you think of it.

True Tales of Key West Real Estate in the Times of Covid 19 - No. Thirteen

Not too long ago I was passing time with a local real estate attorney before he was to close a deal I was working on. We traded a couple of stories about this and that when I mentioned the name of a former head honcho at a Key West bank. The lawyer's ears perked up. I knew the bank officer was let go after the bank where he worked was closed by the FDIC. The FDIC often keep the big shots and operations managers to maintain institutional knowledge.

The lawyer told me the acquiring bank kept the former honcho for a short time and and then sacked him for theft. Not money. Toilet paper. Banks keep meticulous records on money. Apparently they keep tabs on toilet paper as well.