This Atlantic Highlands home is known as the Tower House.
The name could be a nod to two famous French wine estates since there is a winery in the backyard.
But there is actually a tower. It’s 35-feet tall and adorned in hand-cut bricks imported from England.
Either way, the name is appropriate for this unique home perched on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the New York City skyline.
“I’ve been doing this for a very long time and I have not seen anything that comes close to this architecturally and with the combination of elevation, the views and the working vineyard. It’s amazing,” said Deborah James of Serhant New Jersey LLC, the listing agent.
The buyers agreed.
The four bedroom, four bathroom home was listed December 3 for $2.85 million.
“Within an hour I had my first call,” James said. “And I got a full-price offer within a day.”
More offers came in and it was under contract within a week.
“It’s just so unique,” she said.
You enter the home at the base of the tower through nine-foot-tall, arched Gothic doors salvaged from a country chapel in England. The foyer has a limestone floor recovered from a 17th or 18th century French chateau.
A short flight of stairs takes you to the main level where the open-concept living room, dining room and kitchen have large windows with stunning water and skyline views.
Two of the bedrooms and two full bathrooms are on the second level.
The third level has a 1,300-square-foot primary bedroom with a private deck, a gas fireplace and a bathroom with floor-to-ceiling windows, a skylight in the shower, and a soaking tub.
There are two reach-in closets in the gentleman’s dressing area and a 182-square foot custom closet and women’s dressing room with a chandelier. Also on this level is a gym, office space and a reading room in the tower with arched windows.
The lower level of the four-story home has a pub with nine-foot ceilings, a 12-foot mahogany wet bar, a fireplace and more of the unobstructed water and skyline views that the upper levels of the home have. There is also a guest bedroom and bathroom and a two-car garage.
Outside there are multiple decks, a patio, an English garden and a vineyard with 100 vines that the homeowners harvest and bring to a local business to be made into Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.
“It’s almost like a dream,” James said. “People want to move to Italy or Spain and have a vineyard. But here’s a vineyard less than an hour from Manhattan.”
The home was built in 1957 by the Nevitt family in a post-war modern architectural style. The Izzy family bought it in 1968. They left it vacant but cared for while they relocated to Texas for 10 years for Mr. Izzy’s job.
Mrs. Izzy, at the age of 89, sold the home in 1989 to the Ward family, who are the current sellers.
The Wards lived at Tower House from 1989 to 1995, gradually modernizing it, including expanding the kitchen.
Then the Wards moved to London, again leaving the home vacant but well-maintained. In the five years they lived abroad the Ward family grew from three to five prompting them to expand and renovate the home before they returned to it in 2000.
They added architectural elements and materials inspired by their time in Europe and enlarged the home to 3,700 square feet.
“Buyers today, more so than ever, are looking for a property that has a story, something with a history and that’s unique,” she said.
The home is located within five to 10 minutes of shopping, dining, a fresh fishery and other conveniences in downtown Atlantic Highlands.
“It’s not the most popular town in Monmouth County, like Rumson,” James said. “But the downtown area in Atlantic Highlands has an old-fashioned creamery, a movie theater … it’s just a very charming, quaint town that not a lot of people are aware of yet.”
Gothic doors from a chapel in the English countryside and limestone from a 17th or 18th Century French chateau are in the foyer.Nick Marraro, Motion City Media
The view from the home is of the Atlantic Ocean and the New York City skyline.Nick Marraro, Motion City Media
The open-concept living and dining room has one of three fireplaces in the home.Nick Marraro, Motion City Media
The kitchen was expanded by the current owners.Nick Marraro, Motion City Media
The 1,300-square foot primary is one of four bedrooms in the home.Nick Marraro, Motion City Media
The primary bathroom, one of four, has floor-to-ceiling windows in the shower.Nick Marraro, Motion City Media
The lower level pub has a 12-foot Mahogany wet bar.Nick Marraro, Motion City Media
The 100 vines produce grapes to make a variety of red and white wines.Nick Marraro, Motion City Media