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Classic Berkshire Country Home, Sheffield
| Price: |
$2,200,000 |
| MLS# |
191047 |
| Description : |
A classic Berkshire country home, nestled on a hilltop surrounded by 10.8 acres of trees and lawns, and abutting over 100 acres of Nature Conservancy land. Tranquility and complete privacy yet minutes to downtown Great Barrington and a stones throw to Wyantenuck CC, gracious rooms, original moldings and hardware, updated electrical and plumbing, a gourmets kitchen, new standing seam metal roof and a free-standing array of photovoltaic panels powerful enough to turn the meter backwards, make this a truly exceptional manor house that comes along once in a lifetime.
A long winding drive under a leafy canopy opens out at the top of Broken Hill to the south facade of a classic and elegant 1901 Berkshire country house. Located about mile south of Wyantenuck Country Club on West Rd. the house is not visible from the street and offers complete privacy although it is only 3 miles to downtown Great Barrington.
At the top of the hill, a circular drive leads you to the porte-cochere and the main entrance. The extra wide (44) front door is a dutch door with leaded glass sidelights and arched window above. The foyer with original wood parquet floors has wood paneling, a beamed ceiling and the main stairway.
Off to the right is the living room with the same wood flooring and beamed ceiling as well as a large stone fireplace and a beautiful leaded glass bow alcove with a window seat. Two large bookcases flank the bowed window seat and French doors on either side of the fireplace lead to the screened porch. To the left of the foyer is the formal dining room which has a fireplace, a large bay window and very ornate wood moldings surrounding the room. At the back of the foyer is a powder room and the den which has pine full height paneling, a freestanding gas stove and large bookcases.
Between the foyer and kitchen is a room that was originally a butlers pantry and now used as an office.
The kitchen has been completely renovated and features a 6 burner and griddle Viking stove, 48 Viking refrigerator, 2 dishwashers, 3 sinks, corian countertops, and large windows looking out to the back terrace and gardens. The original wood/coal burning stove is still usable and an 8 foot wide cabinet with glass doors was relocated into the renovated kitchen from the butlers pantry. Adjoining the kitchen are a laundry room and pantry. A back stair leads from the kitchen to the second floor bedrooms.
Located at the far west end of the house is a first floor bedroom with a fireplace, very high vaulted ceiling and a bathroom with a whirlpool tub.
The main stair leads to 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms in the main part of the house. Two of these bedrooms have fireplaces. All have the original wood floors, beautiful hardware with unusual oval shaped cut glass doorknobs.
Another stair leads to the attic level which has one small finished room that is used as an office.
The west end of the house has a separate staircase leading to 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, with a door and exterior stair leading to the back terrace.
The back terrace is 1,400 SF of bluestone with the den and kitchen walls on 2 sides and lawn and a perennial garden on the other sides.
A separate garage building has 2 stories and has a wide open area on the upper floor along with an exercise room. The lower level is used for lawn equipment and winter storage for garden furniture.
The septic system was designed and built for a 10 bedroom house in 1997 and has been regularly pumped.
The house was completely rewired between 1998 and 2000 and all of the knob and tube wiring was disconnected. The new system is 200 A and there is a propane powered generator large enough to keep the refrigerator, furnace and some of the circuits in each of the rooms.
All of the rooms have hard-wired smoke detectors which are tied into the alarm system.
The old plumbing was replaced at the same time with new copper tubing. Five of the 8 bathrooms were added during the renovation.
Heating is through a steam radiator system fed from an oil fired furnace that is 7 years old.
There are 2 wells, one is the shallow well which is original and still working, and the new deep well at almost 1,000 feet that provides plenty of water for a house that is currently used as a B&B.
The roof was replaced in 2009 with an energy efficient standing seam metal roof.
Cotton insulation was blown in to the walls at the time of the renovation. Similar, green insulation was packed into the attic floor space in 2009 to make the building envelope draft free and energy efficient.
A 16 KW photovoltaic panel system was completed earlier this year and will provide enough electricity to power the house at most times and to sell power back to grid during much of the year. The panels were installed at the southerly end of the property and are not visible from the house.
Cable was run from West Rd. up the house in 2009 and provides high speed internet access, HDTV and telephone.
The property is 10.8 acres of which roughly 1 acres are lawn. Access is over a gravel drive that belongs to this property and over which 3 other houses have partial rights of way. These 3 owners share in the cost of maintaining the drive on a pro-rated basis. There are many wonderful, mature and some rare trees on the property including a large Dawn Redwood, tamaracks, ginkgoes, magnolia and catalpas. |
| City: |
Sheffield |
| Bedrooms: |
8 |
| Bathrooms: |
8.5 |
| Square Foot: |
5,337 |
| Acreage: |
10.8 |
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