High above a rocky bluff overlooking the Atlantic, on the far eastern end of Montauk, N.Y., sits a rustic stone house visible mostly to fishermen and water enthusiasts.
“This place is absolute magic — it’s a fairy tale,” said Kyle Rosko, a longtime Hamptons resident and real estate agent who surfs near the secluded 3.2-acre property off Old Montauk Highway, aptly called the Stone House.
Notable owners of the Stone House, erected in 1912, have included the interior designer Tony Ingrao. He acquired the home in 1987, extensively renovated it, and then was forced to rebuild after a fire in 1991. The house is currently owned by Linda Ehrenwald, who, with her husband, the diamond expert Jerry Ehrenwald, had purchased it in 1998. (They also bought many of Mr. Ingrao’s furnishings after seeing photos of the home’s interior in a design magazine.)
“When we found it, we moved on it immediately,” Ms. Ehrenwald recalled. “We both fell in love with the house the first moment we saw it.”
With the death last year of Mr. Ehrenwald, who headed the North American division of the International Gemological Institute from 1991 to 2019, Ms. Ehrenwald has decided to sell the home. The asking price is $18 million, according to Mr. Rosko of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, who is handling the listing with his colleague Marcy Braun. Annual property taxes are $45,299.
Encompassing 3,063 square feet, the Stone House has three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms. There are also two other buildings on the gated grounds. One is a 608-square-foot artist’s studio with a loft, a skylight and a half-bath with an integrated shower. The other, next to a saltwater pool, is a 186-square-foot pool house with a full bathroom and lower-level storage. Both have kitchenettes.
“It’s time to downsize and make life simpler,” Ms. Ehrenwald said, noting that the house had been used regularly on weekends and for summer vacations. “We had lots of lobster bakes and things like that,” she said, “and my dad and brother would fish.”
The two-story, Cotswold-style house, with a stone and wood facade, evolved from humble beginnings. According to Mr. Ingrao, who researched its history, in the mid-19th century, a one-room cottage once stood where the house is situated, serving as a restaurant and welcome center for oceangoing travelers. “There had been a dock in front,” he said, adding that the structure was converted to a fishing cottage later in the century before being rebuilt as a residence.
After the fire, “I found the remnants of what had been another house,” said Mr. Ingrao, who lives in East Hampton and still owns property near the Stone House.
The Stone House sits around 15 feet from a cliff, where there is a rambling wooden staircase, with a built-in bluff porch partway down, to provide access to the beach. Ms. Ehrenwald said she and her husband would often have coffee on the porch at dawn. “I’ve seen so many amazing sunrises,” she said. “You see seals, you see whales, you see dolphins.”
But there aren’t too many neighboring homes to see, according to Mr. Rosko, who notes that celebrities like Julianne Moore and Paul Simon have houses nearby, and that Andy Warhol’s estate was in the area. “These are coveted spaces,” he said, “and it’s so rare that anything in this little neck of the woods on the East End comes on the market. For the people who value and really look for privacy at a higher level, this is it.”
The Stone House property, just off the highway, is set behind a wood gate with stone pillars. A long, tree-lined driveway leads to the house, where entry is through wooden Dutch doors. A twin set of Dutch doors is also at the opposite end of the entrance hall. “When you open both doors, you could look straight to the ocean,” Mr. Rosko said, noting, too, the stunning panoramic views from both inside and outside the house that include the lighthouse and Block Island.
The entrance hallway opens to a media room/den and a formal dining room, each with a wood-burning stone fireplace. Off the dining room is a spacious kitchen and a powder room. The kitchen is outfitted with marble countertops, hand-painted custom wood cabinets and high-end appliances. Dramatic arched doors open to a large stone patio with outdoor dining and more spectacular ocean views. There are also stone patios off the media and living rooms.
The living room is situated in the western wing. The room contains a huge wood-burning stone fireplace, 6.6 feet high and 8 feet wide, with kettle holders and cooking hangers. “You could have a full meal cooked in this fireplace, the way it’s set up,” Mr. Rosko said.
Beamed and vaulted ceilings can be found throughout the living space, and there are abundant stone and wood finishes, including old pegged wood floors, all of which had been meticulously sourced by Mr. Ingrao.
A hand-painted wooden staircase off the living room leads up to the primary bedroom suite, while a second set of stairs off the den connects to two guest bedrooms, which share a bathroom, and a laundry room.
The enormous primary bedroom, with 14-foot vaulted ceilings, takes up most of the second floor. It includes another stone fireplace and a spacious glazed tile and slate bathroom with a separate soaking tub. There is also a wood balcony overlooking the lighthouse.
“You feel like you’re on a ship in this house,” Mr. Rosko said.
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