Dick Cavett's Montauk manse on market

That's a lotta house for one guy. It dwarfs everything around it, and the interiors shown are fusty.

I didn’t know he was still alive.

WHET the post on this exact topic from a few hours ago ?

He and his wife live in CT. I was at a party at Tick Hall this summer--a benefit for Guild Hall slash showcase for realtors. The house, designed by Stanford White, and the property are stunning. The picture makes the house look bigger than it is. It's the antithesis of the yard-less McMansions in Watermill and Bridgehampton. And it comes with 20 acres. Right on the cliffs in Montauk.

I didn't know he had remarried. That's nice he has someone to share $48 million with.

The bathrooms must look awful if they refused to publish the pictures.

They look great. And there's a fabulous sleeping porch.

that really looks like it's from another era. something Garbo might have lived in

Or Gatsby?

I wonder why they had to lower the price. It's gorgeous. Location is perfect if you want seclusion and ocean view. Kitchen is nice. And the woodwork on the staircase is perfect

why is that some people have so much money while most of us have so little?

Good heavens, it burned to the ground in 1997 and they rebuilt it exactly. That's dedication. I love it, furniture and all.

His wife Carrie Nye plays Norine in DL favorite [italic]The Group.[/italic]

On a side note: how did Cavett end up set for life? His heyday ended 45 years ago, with drips and drabs afterward. Plus I doubt that at his height he was at Johnny Carson money.

I’m curious if things like his PBS or CNBC shows were all that lucrative to allow for such a wealthy lifestyle. Was all the money actually from Carrie Nye? (I’m aware it probably wasn’t).

^^Never mind^^ Saw from the Variety article that he made quite a killing in real estate in the last few years.

It could be mortgaged to the hilt.

It says that Stanford White was "flamboyant".

R16 Stanford White famously was murdered by Harry K. Thaw because of his dalliance with Evelyn Nesbitt, and the resulting brouhaha was dubbed The Crime of the Century by the press (as Nesbitt was 14 at the time). Stanford was married to one Elizabeth Smith, who bore him two children. He's also a supporting character in the musical Ragtime.

It's a dream. Not sure how I feel about it being a replica. Old beach houses have a smell, look, and usually a perceptible sagging effect that adds a lot to a stay.

I know, like creaky floorboards. Still, that was a lot of custom trim that had to be milled. Incredible location.

I too didn't know he remarried and want to know how he can have multiple homes including this $62- now reduced to $48.5 million mansion.

there was a nyt profile of him last month that read like "goodbye"

Dreamy! The fussy interiors need some fresh blood, but I love the place itself. I'd rip that god awful kitchen island out so fast though! Hate those.

Fab. U. Lous.

I don't hate kitchen islands, but brick floors in a kitchen would get pretty annoying.

The wooden walls remind us of happy childhood summers spent at Lakeside, Michigan - where our parents golfed at the Chikaming Country Club

[quote]I didn't know he had remarried. That's nice he has someone to share $48 million with./[quote]

I met the happy couple at a 2009 party at Grey Gardens, right before they were married. She gave off very mercenary and manipulative vibes. Hugging him while actually restraining him, etc. She appeared to be the Jan Chamberlain to his Mickey Rooney.

Brick floors in the kitchen will kill your back.

All that dark wood is a strange effect in a beach house

I always assumed he was gay, so I'm surprised he married so late in life. I just googled. His new wife is quite accomplished, and is a professor at Duke's business school. I would have thought he would marry someone in the arts, if anyone.

I love it. That's not far from where my grandmother used to live.

Somewhat related, I love watching old interviews that he did with the old stars - Mae West, Bette Davis, and others.

[quote] don't hate kitchen islands, but brick floors in a kitchen would get pretty annoying.

Annoying for whom Dear? You own a $48 million dollar home, you probably have never visited the kitchen.

Poor Carrie, all that work to rebuild an exact replica of the original house and then drops dead. Only to be enjoyed by the "other" wife.

R29, she taught a course at Duke's called "How to Marry a Millionaire".

Q: [quote]why they had to lower the price

A: [quote]seclusion

A 7000-sq ft vanity project maybe summer home on a windswept hill 3 1/2 hours from NYC. Limited appeal.

no helicopter pad?

Listen, Cavett always seemed to my young 70's self, to be a self-impressed control freak type. A snob, unimpressive intellect, and a social climber. He could be charming and he had "gets" so that was the interest. I assumed he was gay, too. This project fits that profile. Rebuilding an exact replica, and so late in life.

Rebuilding a replica house after the fire appears to have been Nye's idea, not his. Insurance probably paid for it all, so why not?

I can hardly afford the Brooklyn studio I live in but for kicks I often check out the zillion dollar homes in East Hampton and Montauk. Just like 10 minutes ago I was at a real estate site that had a 48 million dollar home for sale in Montauk. It had to be Cavett's. How many homes for 48 million could be for sale there at the exact same time. I had just seen a 35 million dollar one in East Hampton and I remember thinking who would want this piece of shit for 48 million when the 35 million dollar one was so much nicer, bigger and with at least double the land.

Check it out. Google "Estates for sale" in East Hampton and then in Mantauk, take the virtual tours.

I think it's horrible. The furniture. The decor. The dark wood everywhere.

I would have thought he'd have more style

I’m not turning my nose up at it. Whatever’s wrong with the interior (nothing, in my book!) can be fixed. Can’t beat that location and view.

even the lanscaping looks like it's out of some 70s creepy TV movie. DREADFUL!

[quote]I’m not turning my nose up at it. Whatever’s wrong with the interior (nothing, in my book!) can be fixed. Can’t beat that location and view.

I thought we were meant to comment on the taste - or as in this case, the lack of it.

every.single.room is hideous

It all looks like it was bought in one go at some decorator store in a mini mall in Shreveport.

The swell Bonnie Dune by White, in Southhampton.

[quote]r38 I think it's horrible. The furniture. The decor. The dark wood everywhere. I would have thought he'd have more style.

Interiors in K Hepburn's family home in Connecticut, below (which also had to be built brick by brick after a hurricane), looked almost exactly like that. It's a very East Coast old money look....like your great great grandparents inherited the place as-is, and few changes were ever made.

Painting everything white only came into vogue (I think) with Syrie Maugham and Elsie de Wolfe in the 1930s (?) The Victorian era they were reacting against used a lot of dark wood furniture and paneling.

[quote]r42 every.single.room is hideous

Every single one of your HOLES is hideous!

Can anyone tell if the furniture is the genuine article or reproduction? Also it's a little heavy on the brown wood. Less would be better.

I love every brick and shingle (well, maybe not the kitchen floor), but it's incredibly beautiful to me.

It's an 1890s summer cottage for the 1% of the nineteenth century folks! Don't expect mid-mod madness and wine refrigerators and 48'x44' rooms!

[quoteA 7000-sq ft vanity project maybe summer home on a windswept hill 3 1/2 hours from NYC. Limited appeal.

There is NO SUCH THING as "limited appeal in the Hamptons, all the way to Montauk. Decades ago, I think Montauk was seen as "too far" and prices were likely cheaper in comparison to East Hampton, but not today, or ever again!

I hope he's not in preparations to die. That's a death that is going to truly depress me.

Nice grounds but I can't say much for New England architecture.

R47, it's hard to tell with those photographs, I think some of the smaller things are antique, like a tea caddy in the dining room, but the dining room chairs look modern to me in an old style. There is a painting of two sailors in the dining room, though. Sailors always add a decorative element to a home.

[quote]Can’t beat that location and view.

Location? It's in Montauk the very tip of Long Island. It's not the end of the world but you can see it from there.

[quote]Can anyone tell if the furniture is the genuine article or reproduction? Also it's a little heavy on the brown wood. Less would be better.

Any idiot can tell. It's not. It's all modern reproduction.

[quote]Every single one of your HOLES is hideous! —sorry - - i just felt like shrieking that, for some reason!

Yes, because you have no natural wit. You're just a cut-out queen.

[quote]It's a very East Coast old money look....like your great great grandparents inherited the place as-is, and few changes were ever made.

There's not as single item that says old money or old anything,

I agree R52. It's a long drive out there, and unless you can fly into the hamptons or take a helicopter, it's way out of the way. I'm certain the winters are cold and windy, so this place is good for summertime only.

Maybe some Chinese or Russian investors will buy it and leave it empty until it falls into the ocean.

[quote]Can anyone tell if the furniture is the genuine article or reproduction? Also it's a little heavy on the brown wood. Less would be better.

Carrie said in the interview at R36 that she scoured antiques shops in Mississippi to find pieces similar to the heirlooms she lost in the fire.

Hopefully this new build has fire suppression systems.

R55 - I guess since Cavett is from old money that makes sense.

Meh. Not great views. The water is too far away. Stuffy and too dark for a coastal home. Agree that the pool is something out of a 1970's horror movie.

Gorgeous but looks like Jenny Fields's house from outside. Did they shoot "Garp" there?

I grew up around antiques, so I like it, overall. But idea of recreating a huge Victorian home that had burned to the ground is just bizarre to me. I love Victorian homes, and would try to respect the original architecture as much as possible, if I owned one. But I can't see resurrecting some too-big Victorian house that's been totally destroyed.

[quote]Gorgeous but looks like Jenny Fields's house from outside. Did they shoot "Garp" there?

Kinda close, Jenny Fields's house was on Fisher's Island, a tiny island between Long Island and Connecticut in the Long Island Sound

Should read Cavett isn't from old money.

I want Ina Garten's estate with those gorgeous gardens and property as far as the eye can see. Her nearest neighbor must be at least a mile away. But first I want Ina and Jeffery's money.

Is that pond swimmable or just to look at?

How did he get so rich? Real estate? I always thought he was the bastard child of Merv Griffin and William F. Buckley, Jr.

Is the house hurricane-proof?

Ha Ha . It's still shitty Lawn Guyland.

[quote]You own a $48 million dollar home, you probably have never visited the kitchen.

Probably true, but you'd better hope Cook never drops a dish, because you'll hear it all over the house.

[quote] ^^Never mind^^ Saw from the Variety article that he made quite a killing in real estate in the last few years.

Like Alan Alda, who bought up half of Water Mill in the 1970s and 80s when it was farmland and woods.

[quote] But idea of recreating a huge Victorian home that had burned to the ground is just bizarre to me

It's Stanford Fucking White

[quote] I'm certain the winters are cold and windy, so this place is good for summertime only.

People drop tens of millions for houses out here and use them for eight weekends a year. The tech revolution made more people rich than at any other time in history. With oligarchs running countries now (including our own), they've been making laws legalizing financial theft for millionaires, so they get even richer. You'd be amazed at how much money is being dropped by more and more people. And none of it is "trickling down."

The poster upthread who mentioned the old beach house smell is right. That is my favorite smell in the world, recalling my parents' 14 room Victorian beach house on the south shore, MA. I went back there 40 years later and it still smelled the same! I wonder how many years it takes for a new beach house to acquire that smell. Perfume manufacturers should take note.

R74, I have a beach house built in 1986 and it has that smell. I believe it's some combination of salt air and hard wood.floors. I only notice it when we arrive because you get used to it over time. But I love that smell-- it signals the beginning of a relaxing weekend.

The thing is, R75, not all old beach houses have that smell, even if they are the same age, made of the same materials and in the same area, right on the beach. I looked at a number of properties and noticed that.

Hmm I wonder why that is. A realtor for beach houses probably knows the secret. There is some damp involved but the nice smell is not mold or mildew. Maybe its the kind of wood used in construction.

$48 million and they were only willing to spring for a cheap GE looking refrigerator? I hope that's some sort of butler's kitchen and not the main kitchen.

Re beach house smell - I have a feeling the smell has to do with wood expanding and contracting with heat and damp, because I have smelled it in old places far from the ocean, usually in an attic.

[quote]Is the house hurricane-proof?

More important, is it fireproof? Was it ever revealed what caused the fire that destroyed the original?

Looks like something an old white queen from DL would live in if they had the money.

R80 In the article at R36 they say fire was probably started by a construction worker's blowtorch.

As opposed to wattle & daub, R81?

Actually there is one thing I would change and that's the draped swag over the dining room windows.

I don't mind well made reproduction furniture because I dont want to live in fear of accidentally scratching/chipping/denting a valuable antique.

Is this house winterized? It must be if it was rebuilt after the fire. The original would not have been.

There are more photos at the Zillow listing. There's a basement home theatre room that is thoroughly contemporary.

Thanks, R63. I still love that movie. Should've been Glenn's Oscar long ago.

[quote] Perfume manufacturers should take note.

We tried that with "Ocean."

[quote] Is this house winterized? It must be if it was rebuilt after the fire. The original would not have been

Do you know who Stanford White was? Of course the house was fucking winterized.

I really like it, but that kitchen floor must be a nightmare to keep clean.

r81 - I think Ryan Seacrest would love this house