The Bay House Exterior
We passed by “Sydney’s Road” and Sandridge yesterday before it registered that the ‘Exclusive For Sale’ sign on the side of the road meant our old bay house – the house that Noel Thomas designed for me, that Ossie Steiner and the Mack Brothers built for me, and that I spent my first twenty full-time years on the Peninsula living in.
The asking price is $549,000 which amazes me, even though I feel that the house in its fabulous setting on the bay is priceless and a bargain no matter what. It sits on 12 acres of wooded upland – 22 acres according the online information, but I’m sure that includes the thousand feet of second class tidelands on the bay.
From the Bay House Deck
If memory serves, the house cost me about $35,000 to build in 1979/1980. I bought the property from my family in two six-acre pieces at $10,000 each and I think the tidelands ran about ten dollars per foot for the 450 linear feet along the bay. All-in-all, quite a bit less than a hundred thousand. But even so, when you consider what’s happened in the real estate market over the last thirty-five years, it is no doubt a very fair listing.
Plus there just aren’t many sites (or sights) comparable on the Peninsula (or anywhere). It has everything going for it – vistas of bay, meadows, and woods, for starters. There is no sign of other human habitation except maybe a peek of Dobby and Lila Wiegardt’s roof in winter when the optimum number of trees are bare. It provides habitat and/or forage for every local critter you can imagine. The steamer clams are out on the tidelands waiting. Plus, of course, the glorious solitude.
Main Room, Bay House
I held my breath as I looked at the online slide show of the exterior and interior of the house. So many changes! The entrance to the house is in a different place. Gone are all the wonderful built-in window seats with their roomy, art-book-sized underneath storage, and it looks like most of the built-in book cases are gone – even the one that Nyel built especially for paperbacks at the head of the stairs.
In a way, I was relieved to see how the house has evolved. Two owners and many tenants have enjoyed that property since Nyel and I sold it twelve years ago. If it still looked as it did during our stewardship, I’d have a much harder time seeing that For Sale sign.
As it is, I feel less like a member of my family is being sold (which is how I felt when we put it on the market in 2001) and a bit more like a foster child is up for adoption. I feel the tug at my heartstrings but, mostly, I hope that just the right person comes along to love the house and property like we did and like every other owner and person associated with the property has. It is one of the special places of this world for sure!
I wish we had and extra $549,000. Love that property!
I saw this house featured in a book of Northwest homes several years ago. It left quite an impression–warm, cozy and inviting. The features I particularly liked are evidently gone–
the window benches and bookcases! I vividly recall the framed student art work hanging as well. And the kitchen–I hope it remains as it was. Magical, all of it!
Yes, the house was featured in “Northwest Style” by Ann Wall Frank and Michael Mathers. We still owned it then and the things you mentioned were all close to my heart. We took the artwork when we left but sold the rest of the furniture and, of course, all the built-ins to the woman who bought from us. It is the present owner who has made all the changes. The kitchen is the same but the other things you mentioned are, alas, no more.