A Charming Contemporary
Four-bedroom home is sited on 2.67 acres, with a pool and pond
Sarah Muir, a Realtor with Sotheby’s International Realty’s Greenwich brokerage, is the listing agent for 12 Guinea Road, Greenwich — a four-bedroom contemporary on 2.67 acres. The asking price is $1.795 million.
Muir’s client, the seller, acquired the property with her husband back in 2016. They were moving from Florida to be closer to their adult children, who lived in New York City. They looked at a number of towns, including across the border in New York, but found Greenwich’s measurably lower taxes appealing.
“We wanted a place where we could have family and friends visit,” the seller recalled.
It was the beautiful setting of this house, and its magnificent views out to the grounds that sealed the deal.
“Every single window looks out to beautiful trees and to the pond,” the seller said.
A tour of the main level begins in the foyer. To the right, there’s a formal 17-by-26-foot living room, and to the left is the formal dining room. The first floor also has an eat-in kitchen, a family room, with a vaulted, beamed ceiling, and a home office. The office might also be leveraged as a first-floor bedroom.
This is no “cookie-cutter” contemporary. The main-level floors are laid in striking glazed brick, with wide-planked hardwood flooring in the living room. There are vaulted and beamed ceilings, and three fireplaces among the 3,762 square feet of living space.
The interiors accommodated the owners’ collections of fine art and antiques, which they were able to display and share with guests.
The house was built by an architect, Livingston Elder, who incorporated some clever design elements. For example, there’s a built-in hutch in the kitchen, with a little slide-out surface for rolling dough. He also added a little peek-hole to the door leading to the formal dining room, allowing for caterers or a host to check on the service needs of guests, without entering the space and interrupting conversation.
Plus, every room serves up a spectacular exterior view. “I think it was by design,” the seller said.
Half of the entire second level is reserved for the primary bedroom suite; two other bedrooms share a full hall bath. A third level has a 19-by-23-foot bonus room, a bathroom and lots of storage space.
The home fulfilled the seller’s hopes for a house that would be inviting and welcoming to friends and family. She recalled several happy memories, including Easter egg hunts on the front lawn, pool parties and formal sit-down occasions in the dining room. She noted that it was possible to accommodate 15 guests in the room, once all the leaves were added to the formal dining table.
A favorite family photo was captured on the front lawn, with a backdrop of lush, green trees. “There are a lot of hydrangeas around the yard and every other kind of flower,” she said. “There are little stone walkways. … It’s not only an amazing house, but an amazing piece of property, as well.”
The lot spans 2.67 acres. It’s partially wooded and appended with an inground pool and patio. The pool was refurbished and new mechanicals were added in 2017.
The property shares a tranquil pond with two other homes that border it. The
pond is a favorite spot for visiting birds and ducks.
The owner has made a number of improvements to the house, including updating carpets and freshening the paint. They added three new air-conditioning systems in 2017 and strategically tinted windows to protect furnishing fabrics and artwork.
“It’s very peaceful and a great house,” the seller said.