Property
Basking in 10.44 acres of park-like privacy on Lake Agawam, Old Trees sits behind the hedges of First Neck Lake in the heart of Southampton’s historic estate section, in between the village and the alluring Atlantic Ocean beach. Built in 1911 at the zenith of the Hamptons’ Gilded Age, the stately Georgian manor was designed by famed New York architect Goodhue Livingston, and was created as his own private residence. Descendent of a prominent Colonial New York family, Livingston was a partner in the architectural firm of Trowbridge & Livingston, whose extensive and distinguished oeuvre includes New York’s landmark St. Regis Hotel, the original J.P. Morgan banking headquarters, and the Hayden Planetarium of the American Museum of Natural History.
Expansive views open across picturesque Lake Agawam from the sweeping 458+/- foot shoreline and stretch all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. Old Trees offers a private world apart on lushly sweeping grounds flourishing with the estate’s namesake specimen trees including majestic weeping beech, copper beech, Japanese cedar, ginko, dogwood, apple, and towering maple trees giving the property an ideal balance of sunlight and shade. Acclaimed landscape architect Mario Nievera has artfully transformed the grounds into a horticultural treasure – adorned with native and exotic plantings – designed as a series of intimate settings and impressive outdoor living spaces. A grand allée flanked by exotic foliage focuses on the manor house – bedecked with trellised roses and blossoming hydrangea – and leads to a charming lily pond graced by a water nymph statue. Opening off the lakeside façade of the residence, a brick terrace shaded by pavilions to either side steps out to rolling lawns planted with beds of lilies and rosa rugosa. Sharing the captivating lake vista, the luminous pool and spa are edged by a lounge terrace aside the spacious pool house containing a sitting/staging area for entertaining plus a full bath and changing room. Secluded by sculpted hedges, a separate secret garden scented by numerous varieties of roses and other colorful flowers also highlights a vine-draped pergola – a delightful spot for cocktails on a perfect summer’s day. Next to the garden sits the Har-Tru tennis court with spectators’ pavilion. As evening falls, the grounds transform into a magical realm with artistic landscape lighting by Greg Yale Associates Illumination, in the backdrop of Lake Agawam glittering in the moonlight and the sounds of the ocean’s surf in the distance.