Photos from Higgins Group and Kelly Associates
You probably already know about or have heard the name Tavern Island before. If you haven’t, Rowayton’s stunning portion of the Thimble Islands can be yours right now for $10,995,000.
Rick Higgins, president of Higgins Group, paints the scene this way: “Three-and-a-half acres within a compound with several homes on it—a Caretaker, Main House, a Japanese Tea House, and a Boathouse—and a 75-foot, in-ground Infinity Pool.”
That’s one jaw-dropping picture.
There is also a guest cottage (the Pilot House), which alone features two bedrooms and two baths; a private beach with a mooring dock; two-story windows; nine-foot-plus ceilings; and unbelievable views from every room.
Higgins points out that the property “also has a building lot on Rowayton Harbor, with private parking and a private dock. It’s incredibly unique.”
With six bedrooms, four full (and three partial) baths in the main Tudor’s 6,100 square feet of space, the words “paradise” and “retreat” also immediately leap to mind.
And, Tavern Island’s three-and-a-half acres also come with history (theater great Billy Rose once owned the property), in addition to one more exquisite detail: an unparalleled cosmopolitan vista.
“You get a beautiful view of the skyline of New York at night,” Higgins says. “Which is really unusual. I don’t think there’s a place in the metropolitan area like this—there may not be a place on the East Coast like this.”
One of the original homes built within the Wilson Point Association, 16 Nathan Hale Drive boasts its own, superb historical legacy, says Merrill Till, of Kelly Associates.
Joseph Gimma, who owned the property once, was married to a “famous opera singer named Licia Albanese,” Till notes. “She sang in Madama Butterfly and La bohéme. She passed away this year at 105 years old.”
With nearly 250 feet fronting Long Island Sound, on an acre of prime real estate overlooking the Norwalk Islands, the property lists for $5,950,000.
And this home, with a family room featuring vaulted ceilings and French doors bringing you out to an amazing deck (yes, there is also a hot tub), once consisted of a cottage and a main house. These were joined by Gimma, after he purchased the property, several decades ago.
Inside, five bedrooms match up with five baths (along with a half-bath), and, a resplendent terrace that’s accessed from the master bedroom suite, which boasts its own heated floor, dressing room, and cedar walk-in closet.
But, a few final words about this completely renovated beauty: You’ll have company, Till says.
“They (Gimma and his wife) also built a deep water dock, where ospreys come back to nest every year, on top of a piling at the end of the dock.”
So the home doesn’t merely come with a view—it might just come with some amazing friends.