Has a Waterfront Estate in Rye, NY sold for $12.25 million,
The Georgian Colonial home, which comes with a hefty dose of history, first hit the market in May 2022 for $14.99 million.
The estate was built in 1917 by the architectural firm Trowbridge & Livingston, founded in 1894 by Samuel Beck Parkman Trowbridge & Goodhue Livingston.
The partners also designed the iconic St. Regis Hotel and Wall Street’s J.P. Morgan Building – along with the American Museum of Natural History, the B. Altman & Company Building, and the original Hayden Planetarium at Oregon’s State Capitol.
The original owner of the property, which sits on 2.82 acres at 859 Forest Avenue, was one of the owners of the Dodge Motor Company, who built it as a wedding gift for his daughter. In the 1960s, Yasuo Matsui, an architect who worked on the Empire State Building, led the renovation work. By then, the house had been dubbed Bayberry Cove.
During the 1960s, it was the home of Ambassador Carlos María Velázquez, who headed the Uruguayan mission to the United Nations. The property also served as the embassy of a South American country.
With 470 feet on the water, the eight-bedroom, 8,800-square-foot home comes with its own sandy beach, a deep-water dock, a pool, and a hot tub. There is also rolling green lawn, a heated cobblestone front driveway, a four-car garage with attached breezeway, a greenhouse, and a widow’s walk with panoramic Long Island Sound views.
Inside, the home features French doors, multiple terraces, five fireplaces, hardwood floors, high ceilings, and lavish entertaining spaces. There’s also a home office, a formal dining room, a chef’s kitchen, a breakfast room, and a lower-level spa.
The sellers bought the property in 1999 for $5.95 million—about $10.8 million today.
Listing brokers were Elizabeth Higgins and Michael McCue of Compass.