Following last week's demolition approval of the historic cottage at 450 Gin Lane, Sally Spanburgh's Southampton Village Review blog has posted the contents of her argument to keep the house upright. The opus to the carriage house once known as Sandhurst is enlightening and chock full of interesting Hamptons history, a reminder of the storied past that most early oceanfront homes possess. In the case of 450 Gin Lane, the $19.9 million sale of the property is rumored to be contingent on the tear-down, and the village board approved the demo since the main house that once sat the land washed away in 1938. Still, Spanburgh fought for the 2,700 square footer, armed with a roster of famous former owners and renters, and an epic story dating back to the mid 1800s.
The vital facts:
1) Sandhurst was built on the property of Dr. Theodore Gaillard Thomas between 1888 and 1900, along with another cottage known as Bonito. Thomas already had a home named 'The Dunes', and used the cottages as rental properties. Early real estate tycoon!
2) Before the Walker family, the current owners, the property was briefly in the hands of the Barclays and the Chambers.
3) Sandhurst's name was changed to Tide's End for unknown reasons between 1928 and 1930 by Grenville Kane Walker.
The big name renters:
1905: Arthur Burtis Leach of the New York banking firm A.B. Leach & Co. and the director of something called the Bonnie Brae Farm for Boys
1908: Seymour L. Cromwell, a three-term President of the New York Stock Exchange
1911: Cornelius N. Bliss, Secretary of the Interior in the McKinley administration
1922: Angier Buchanan Duke, tobacco tycoon with a namesake university
RIP, 450 Gin Lane/Sandhurst/Tide's End. You'll be missed.
· Sandhurst: 450 Gin Lane [SVR]
· Listing: 450 Gin Lane [Elliman]
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