Every home is unique, technically. Some are just more unique than others.
Here are five of them, on the market right now.
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242 Barnes Ave, New Haven
1 bd | 1 ba | 765 sq ft | 0.14 ac | $249,900
Right out of the gate, this Quonset hut tucked into the northeastern corner of New Haven presents a paradox: a prefab design, probably, that may nonetheless be the only one of its kind in city limits. I can’t imagine this curiosity selling for ask, given how “AS-IS” it is, but it’s fun to think about what you might do with a half-cylinder for a home… or maybe an AirBnB?
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32 Meeks Point Rd, East Hampton
3 bd | 2 ba | 1,553 sq ft | 0.63 ac | $649,000
Collie-colored masonry, breezy-beach shingles and playful geometry set the tone outside for what’s to come inside, where, amid white walls and natural wood tones, a massive central chimney both delineates and connects this custom home’s foyer, the living room, the dining area and the kitchen. The living room boasts a cathedral ceiling and a wall of windows, and a pergola-covered patio is just a few steps away. So is a lake.
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740 Oronoque Ln, Stratford
4 bd | 6 ba (3 full) | 4,513 sq ft | 1.00 ac | $799,900
This mixed-use property is a challenge to describe, let alone to decorate (and would show better, I think, with no staging at all). Entering the first floor of the residential side, the feeling is bright, modern and brutalist, with a staggered natural stone-tile floor and floated half-pace stairs made from rough-cut planks. The wood-walled living room, on the other hand, feels more mid-forest than midcentury, despite, in one corner, a spiral staircase that looks like it was carved by Jens Risom. Upstairs, the feeling is contemporary with hints of Victorian thanks to a lightly angled mansard roof and a penchant for wallpaper. Then, attached to the home but with its own entrance as well, there’s the business wing of the structure, whose standard carpeted office spaces could be left to that purpose or converted into an “in-law or au pair set up with totally separate living quarters.”
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14 Codfish Ln, Weston
3 bd | 3 ba | 3,779 sq ft | 2.00 ac | $1,400,000
If it were less warm inside and perched on an unmapped tropical island near a gurgling volcano, this ultramodern award-winner with geometries galore could be mistaken for the lair of an über stylish Bond villain. Instead, it’s in Weston, surrounded by deciduous forest, with a chic pool and a neighboring country club.
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155 Joshuatown Rd, Old Lyme
7 bd | 5.5 ba | 7,930 sq ft | 23.25 ac | $4,200,000
This dramatic 23-acre property reportedly dating to the 1700s is described as both an estate and a compound, with a gorgeously angular main house, a restored two-bedroom barn, a pool house with gym and library, two guest houses and, somewhere in the mix, a unique solarium. Materials and surfaces feel by turns ancient and new, sometimes both; the interior of the barn, for example—at least I think it’s the barn—is an open-concept riot of rustic wooden planks and beams somehow made to feel contemporary. Water features, gardens and seating areas color the grounds, with recurring motifs from identically angled roofs to scattered and congregated hedges trimmed into variously sized puffs. The level of thought and care applied throughout the property is astonishing, to the point that somehow, even a price of $4.2 million feels like a bargain.
How unique is that?
Written by Dan Mims. Images sourced from the linked real estate listings. Top image features 155 Joshuatown Road, Old Lyme.
