3 bedroom Residence For Sale: Ossining..

AFTERWHILES - Built in 1795 this antique home is part of Ossining history. Originally built by riverboat man Brooks Acker, the house was rebuilt and designed by the prominent architect Eric Gugler in the 1920's. Gugler was FDR's personal architect and the designer of many of the glorious houses across the river at Sneden's Landing. This house with its stonework and pooled brooks which run through a private valley enclosed by orchards and a fir plantation was Gugler's masterpiece.For the past 55 years it has been home to the Cheever's, a literary family. John Cheever, the best selling Pulitzer Prize winning author, lived and worked here for the last 20 years of his life. It became an important center of American literature as friends of Cheever's such as Saul Bellow and Philip Roth visited to chat about the state of the art. Cheever wrote one of his best known works, the short story The Swimmer (which became a movie starring Burt Lancaster) in the third floor of the house. A chronicler of life in the suburbs and a devotee of the Hudson Valley, the novel, Falconer as well as many other short stories were written here. "The house feels like a dream," Cheever wrote of its many gracious features. Retaining many period details, there is charm in every room from random width pegged floors to decorative moldings. The covered porch entry opens to a wood paneled family room with a fireplace. A butler's pantry leads to the eat in kitchen with a door out to one of the many patios. Steps lead up to the sunny living room with a fireplace, bookshelf lined walls and a door out to the screened porch overlooking the yard. On this level there is also the master bedroom with a dressing room and a full bath. From the master bedroom there is a walkway to an artists studio built in 1981. On the top floor you'll find two additional bedrooms and a French door leading to a terrace and the yard. This special home is set on nearly 5 acres of rolling lawns and perennial gardens framed by stone walls and a babbling brook. Any visitor will immediately see its potential as a year round residence or a weekend getaway.


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