At a time when people are working from home and thus looking for houses with intimately scaled rooms that afford privacy, this turn-of-the-20th century manor house combines traditional elegance with all the modern amenities.
The house was once part of the country estate of Arthur Hawley Scribner (1859-1932), one of the sons in and presidents of Charles Scribner’s Sons, publisher of such literary luminaries as Henry James, Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Kurt Vonnegut and Stephen King. (Scribner’s is now part of Simon & Schuster.)
The Mediterranean-style abode, on Chestnut Ridge Road in Bedford, is set behind gates on 9.9 magnificently lush acres that offer panoramic views from every vantage point. Inside the 11,649-square-foot space, you flow through jewel-colored, antiques-filled rooms that are rich in architectural elements, including stucco walls; dark-wood moldings, paneling and trim; as well as French doors, which along with a patio and a terrace look out onto manicured lawns and a pool. (There are seven bedrooms, seven full bathrooms and two half baths in the main house, with two bedrooms and two baths in the guesthouse.)
While the place has the look of something a silent-movie siren might’ve lived in many midnights ago — apologies to Billy Wilder’s “Sunset Boulevard” — it is also thoroughly up-to-date, from state-of-the-art baths and kitchens to a full-house generator and lightning protection for the house and surrounding trees.
Indeed, the only kind of lightning that will strike is a bolt of love for this exquisitely detailed, $7,900,000 manse.
For more, call Ginger Ruckman at 914-391-8304 or visit 69ChestnutRidgeRoad.com.
