What You Get for … $2,200,000
CreditKevin Moloney for The New York Times
LITTLETON, COLO.
WHAT: A midcentury house with four bedrooms and four bathrooms
HOW MUCH: $2,200,000
SIZE: 3,765 square feet
PRICE PER SQUARE FOOT: $584
SETTING: Littleton is a suburb of Denver. This house is in Bow Mar, a private lakefront community with its own beach, boating, sailing and fishing. Once agricultural land, the area was developed in the late 1940s and the 1950s, with many single-story houses in modern and ranch styles. This house is a block and a half from one of the neighborhood lakes, Marston. There are also a country club and a city park nearby. Shopping in Littleton is within a few minutes’ drive, while downtown Denver is about 25 minutes away by car.
INDOORS: The single-story house was built in 1959 and completely renovated five years ago by Scott Parker, the principal of Nest Architectural Design of Denver. The interior is bright and crisp, with white walls and cabinetry, wide-plank white oak floors, and walls of glass and pocket doors throughout, designed to facilitate indoor/outdoor living. Clerestory windows in the great room provide additional light; the ceiling is pitched tongue-and-groove construction.
Kitchen design and cabinetry is by the Italian company Varenna; stainless-steel appliances include a Thermador refrigerator and freezer, Gaggenau range and two Gaggenau ovens. There are also a Sub-Zero wine refrigerator, a steam convection oven and a built-in coffee and espresso maker. A 16-foot-long white quartz breakfast bar separates the kitchen from the rest of the great room; next to it is a built-in quartz-topped breakfast table with a floating white oak bench. Between the living and dining areas, there’s a partial wall with a two-way fireplace.
The master suite is in its own wing. It has clerestory windows, white Poliform cabinets and glass doors opening to the porch and outdoor kitchen. The master bathroom has a soaking tub, double sinks, a walk-in shower and a heated towel bar. One of the other bedrooms is part of a guest suite with access to the outside; the other two form their own wing.
The house was updated with a smart home system during renovations, including lighting, speaker and audio control. An attached garage holds four cars.
OUTDOOR SPACE: The great room opens to an outdoor living room and kitchen with a trellised, skylit roof, a built-in pizza oven and a built-in grill. The balance of the 1.15-acre lot is level lawn.
TAXES: $6,903 a year
CONTACT: Peter Blank and Carmelo Paglialunga, Liv Sotheby’s International Realty / Mile Hi Modern, (720) 849-1956; milehimodern.com
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NEWBURY, N.H.
WHAT: A house with six bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms, on 326 acres
HOW MUCH: $2,195,000
SIZE: 5,768 square feet
PRICE PER SQUARE FOOT: $381
SETTING: Newbury is a rural town in central New Hampshire, home to Lake Sunapee and the Mount Sunapee Resort. This house is on 326 acres of gardens and meadow at the top of Bald Sunapee Mountain, with long views of a valley. Much of the surrounding area is conserved or protected, including Mount Sunapee and Pillsbury State Park, which total more than 15,000 acres; and a 75-mile network of hiking trails, the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway. The property conveys with a slip at a boating club on Lake Sunapee, a haven for fishermen. According to the listing agent, the area becomes a little busier in the summer, thanks to vacationers. Farmstands, health-food stores, theaters and general shopping are available in New London. Boston is about 90 minutes away by car.
INDOORS: The shingled contemporary house was built in 1987 and updated within the last 15 years. Constructed as a primary residence for its owners and a getaway for their children and grandchildren, it has an owner’s wing connected to a children’s wing by a glass gallery, and an attached guesthouse. The interior is a blend of the rustic (reclaimed ceiling beams and pine floors made with wood harvested from the property) and the contemporary (skylights and glass walls throughout). Rooms are situated to take advantage of south and west views of the surrounding valley. Many rooms open to a balcony, porch or deck.
The main section of the house has a great room and a glassed-in sunroom, used as a family dining area. The master suite is on the second level. Its bedroom has a wall of windows that open to a private balcony with views that stretch for nearly 30 miles; the en-suite bathroom has a soaking tub. Also on the second floor is a library with a catwalk overlooking the great room. The third floor is a bright, airy office. Above the office is a crow’s nest with windows on all sides, used as an artist’s studio.
There are three additional bedrooms in the wing and two in the adjoining guesthouse. Both the owner’s and children’s wings have kitchens. Also on the property is a barn with horse stalls. The barn has a wood furnace that can be used to heat the house through underground pipes.
OUTDOOR SPACE: The property has an apple orchard, a sugar shack for making maple syrup and a stand of 30 or 40 Christmas trees. There are also ponds used for fishing and ice-skating, as well as a home for koi.
TAXES: $21,403 a year
CONTACT: Pam Perkins, Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty (603) 526-8500; highmowingfarmnh.com
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CHICAGO
WHAT: A house with eight bedrooms, three full bathrooms and two half bathrooms, and a two-bedroom garage apartment
HOW MUCH: $2,200,000
SIZE: Approximately 6,300 square feet
PRICE PER SQUARE FOOT: $349
SETTING: This house is in Kenwood, a neighborhood and historic district about eight miles from the Loop and downtown Chicago. The neighborhood is known for grand single-family houses in a broad variety of styles, with ornate Georgian and Romanesque designs standing alongside simple Prairie and modern residences built by architects including Frank Lloyd Wright, George W. Maher and Howard Van Doren Shaw. President Obama’s home is nearby, as are the University of Chicago and 1920s-era apartment towers. This house is on a tree-lined street a few blocks from both the waterfront trails along Lake Michigan and the nearly 400-acre Washington Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.
INDOORS: The three-story house was designed by W. G. Barfield and built in the early 1900s. Original features include wainscoting, molding, inlaid wood floors on the first level and generously proportioned rooms. The living room fireplace is surrounded by a mahogany-paneled wall. Next to the living room is a library with a bay window, and next to that, a 300-square-foot dining room with a domed ceiling. Also on the first floor is an octagonal room with a domed ceiling, used for displaying art. The kitchen was updated in the 1970s; next to it are a pantry and breakfast nook.
Five bedrooms are on the second floor, three are on the third floor. The master bedroom has a private bath. Some of the bathrooms feature original or vintage tile work, leaded-glass windows and linen cabinets. Also on the third floor is a wood-paneled living room with dormers.
OUTDOOR SPACE: The house is on about a third of an acre, set back from the street. The kitchen and pantry area open to a backyard that goes back about 100 feet.
TAXES: $21,917 a year
CONTACT: Susan O’Connor Davis, Koenig Rubloff Realty, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, (312) 893-8144; koenigrubloff.com