Former 'Hertenhof' Property In East Hampton Listed For $5 Million

You have to figure that 6 acres in East Hampton known as Deer Court is home to plenty of actual deer. But the “Hertenhof” property (its original name) is much more than simply an ad hoc wildlife sanctuary. Its recent listing for sale by Brown Harris Stevens for $4.95 million offers an opportunity to delve into its advantages and the history of the section of town where it can be found.

First, the property itself. The house on those 6 bucolic acres is just under 5,000 square feet, and it has six bedrooms and 5.5 baths. It was created by the top-shelf design firm of Parish-Hadley (Abrams is publishing a book on it this fall) and was completed in 2001. One of its most distinctive features is the four wood-burning fireplaces. Others include a foyer with double-height ceiling, marble countertops in the kitchen, an office and a two-car attached garage. Outside, one will find a heated gunite pool and a pool house. What could attract devoted hobbyists is that the full basement contains a workshop.

Hertenhoff can be found in the Grace Estate, one of the most appealing and historic sections in the Town of East Hampton. It was once home to three Indian villages, then after the arrival of Europeans it became part of the port of Northwest Harbor. According to the Nature Conservancy, it is “primarily oak-pine forest [and] the preserve is riddled with kettlehole wetlands formed when huge blocks of ice deposited by the last glacier melted in place.”

The property gained its name and became more clearly defined in 1910 when the industrialist W.R. Grace purchased 845 acres (including a mile of beachfront) east of Northwest Harbor. However, it was not until 71 years later that developers filed plans to construct condominiums along with swimming pools, tennis courts, a golf course, and a polo pitch with stables for horses. This caused quite the kerfuffle, with town baymen contending that such development would pollute the harbor, resulting in a very compromised shellfish population. The final blow to the plans was when archaeologists uncovered evidence of those three Indian villages, soon followed by a bevy of scientists claiming that the Grace Estate, even though there had been some previous subdividing and building, needed to have its environment protected. With such ammunition and the help of a Nature Conservancy fundraising campaign, East Hampton bought and preserved over 500 acres of the original estate.

The previous and present owners of Hertenhoff were Harold Simmons Jr., a designer with an international reputation who died in East Hampton at 74 in August 2014, and his husband, Peter van Hattum. Mr. Simmons, a native of Mississippi, was one of the founders of Paris-Hadley Inc. He and Mr. van Hattum were active members of the East Hampton Historical Society, and after purchasing Hertenhof they hosted cocktail parties there that were fundraisers for the organization.