Historic William Cauldwell House In Noyac Opens To The Public On Saturday

The front door of the historic, landmarked William Cauldwell residence in Noyac will swing open to visitors on Saturday, July 12, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.Overlooking Peconic Bay, the summer house was built in 1892 in the Queen Anne Victorian style, with an asymmetrical design, wraparound porch and cross-gables, among other still-intact features.

“It’s a terrific house,” architect and Press columnist Anne Surchin, who’s done a great deal of research on it, said this week.

The original owner was William Cauldwell, a state senator and publisher of the long-defunct Sunday Mercury, which introduced Mark Twain to New York newspaper readers.

The house was intended to be part of the Noyac Cottage Association, a summer colony of as many as 70 cottages planned for editors of the Atlanta Constitution, the Detroit Free Press, the New-York Press and the New York Tribune, among other urbanites.

“The grounds of this association, first made beautiful by nature, can be made one of the most popular watering places on eastern Long Island,” said an 1889 blurb in The Sag Harbor Express while construction of cottages was under way and the need for a better road from Noyac to get to Sag Harbor seemed acute.

The subdivision went into foreclosure before all the cottages could be completed. Of those that were, some have subsequently been demolished and others “altered beyond recognition,” according to Ms. Surchin.

Mr. Cauldwell eventually ran into financial problems, then trouble with the law after being accused of mismanaging a multimillion-dollar estate, eventually having to turn over his real estate holdings—but not his beach home—to pay off the debt.

He died in 1907, leaving the house to his son. In the 1920s, it was occupied by the Baldwin family, who took official possession in 1937 and continue as the owners today, according to Sally Spanburgh of the Southampton Town Landmarks and Historic Districts Board.

The house was shuttered for years, with a squatter living in it for a time, Ms. Surchin said. One of the Baldwins may have won it in a poker game, according to that family’s lore.

The current owner is Shelby McChord, the daughter of Cyril Baldwin, Ms. Spanburgh said in a release announcing the open house.

Ms. McChord wanted landmark status for the house, she told The Press when it was being considered, because she feared it might meet the same fate as another Victorian two houses away that was demolished after the property was sold.

The William Cauldwell house, which already was listed on both the New York State and National registers of historic places, was successfully granted Southampton Town landmark status in August 2011, making it the 12th in the town, which itself owns nine of the landmarks.

Landmark status allows property owners to perform routine maintenance, although review is required for renovations or similar changes, making a teardown less likely. Town landmarks are eligible for tax abatements, preservation easement acquisition and maintenance awards, and in some cases a guest house on the same property.

The Cauldwell house architecture is “a wonderful hybrid of the Queen Anne and Eastern Stick styles,” Ms. Spanburgh said, adding that both the interior and exterior have been immaculately maintained. The interior has had virtually no changes except minor electrical and plumbing modernizations. Over 122 years, only the exterior’s paint color has been changed, from blue to white.

The home is at 51 Peconic Avenue in the Northampton Shores community on the north side of Noyac Road. Parking will be available along the side streets on Saturday, and light refreshments will be served. Admission is free.