Photo: Christie’s International Real Estate
Live a life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis-inspired leisure on Martha’s Vineyard — sunbathing with a book in hand, waterskiing on the open ocean, and frolicking with fellow celebs on the beach. All it will cost you is $65 million and a printed headscarf.
Red Gate Farm, the former residence of the beloved First Lady, has been listed for sale by her daughter, Caroline Kennedy. The five-bedroom, five-bathroom estate sits on 340 acres and includes more than a mile of unspoiled Atlantic Ocean beachfront.
Photo: Christie’s International Real Estate
Kennedy Onassis purchased the property at the western end of Martha’s Vineyard in 1979, when it was only a sheep farm with a small hunting cabin. The Cape Cod-style main house and two-story guest house, completed in 1981, were designed by architect Hugh Newell Jacobson. In true New England fashion, the structures are clad in weathered cedar shingles with white-framed windows and coordinating chimneys.
Photo: Christie’s International Real Estate
The main residence spans 6,456 square feet and all rooms — with the exception of the dining room — offer sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean. The main level features a formal sitting room with a fireplace, drawing room, living room, family room, library, dining room, and a modernized chef’s kitchen with professional-grade appliances.
Photo: Christie’s International Real Estate
There are two spacious decks for outdoor entertaining and each of the four bedrooms includes an ensuite bath. The master suite boasts a dressing room and an elegant bathroom with soaker tub and shower. As if that weren’t enough, the residence also includes a smaller bedroom on the lower level, a den, two offices or art studios, two powder rooms, three fireplaces, a laundry room and basement.
The guest house features four additional bedrooms, and the original hunting cabin still stands. There’s also a barn, boathouse, two garages, a storage building and a three-bedroom caretaker’s house and two-bedroom guest/staff apartment, because when you own an estate this size you need help mowing the lawn.
Photo: Christie’s International Real Estate
Bunny Mellon, who famously redesigned the White House Rose Garden during the Kennedy administration, crafted the landscapes. Sprawling lawns are punctuated by mature trees and well-trimmed hedges, and there are freshwater ponds, a vegetable garden and blueberry patch. As the Kennedys were an active bunch, the property includes an outdoor pool, tennis court and a fairy treehouse, which Kennedy Onassis built for her three grandchildren.
Photo: Christie’s International Real Estate
Caroline Kennedy enlisted the help of Deborah Berke, Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, to renovate and expand the property in 2000. This is the first time in 40 years the property has been put on the market, and Christie’s International Real Estate holds the listing. Here’s hoping a wealthy buyer snatches up the iconic property soon, just in time for summer.
