Museum Finds A House Buyer With A Penchant For The Past

Captain George White would be proud. After waving away a slew of offers—from banks and supermarkets to restaurants and even an assisted living facility—the Southampton Historical Museum found a buyer who promised to preserve the captain’s historic abode.

“We are very happy. Everybody’s thrilled!” said Tom Edmonds, executive director of the museum, who helped oversee the sale a month ago. The White House, as it has been nicknamed, has sat on the corner of Main Street and Jagger Lane in Southampton Village since 1850. It was sold to Hampton Bays resident Marco Robert for $1.5 million, which was half its value, according to the museum.

The money will be used to create an endowment for the museum and for capital improvements on other historic buildings under its purview.

“The museum had multiple offers on the White House over the years and seemed to consider each one very carefully,” said Sally Spanburgh, who chairs Southampton Town’s Landmarks and Historic Districts Board. “I’m sure the community joins me in hoping the new owners will be good stewards of the property and that it will soon become a rejuvenated participant in a thriving Main Street area.”

This sale was an intentional tip of the hat to the captain, who was a champion for Southampton’s working locals and for its beaches, saving them from commercial development. If it weren’t for him, “we would be totally different. We’d be a very polluted, congested resort, like Atlantic City,” said Mr. Edmonds.

When summer colony residents started purchasing land along the ocean in the 19th century, they were quickly followed by land developers who sought to put in casinos, hotels, racetracks and factories, Mr. Edmonds said. Captain White fought them in court for 20 years in an effort to preserve the income for local farmers who used the beach as transport for produce and for the fishermen who made a living from the ocean.

Mr. White was also known to lead the rescue of shipwrecked sailors and passengers on Southampton’s coastline following his retirement as a whale captain. “A lot of people wouldn’t go out to save other people in storms, but because of his experience on the sea, going after whales, [Captain White] was fearless. He was responsible for saving hundreds of lives,” said Mr. Edmonds.

Madeline White, the captain’s great-granddaughter-in-law, left the White House to the Southampton Historical Museum as an unrestricted bequest in 2008. According to a museum press release, “The story of Captain White has been long forgotten, and this gift offered a way to bring his heroic story back to life.”

Museum trustees and local residents formed a committee to explore the options, and a year later decided to place covenants on the property to ensure its preservation. Then, it was put on the market with Corcoran real estate agent and museum trustee Kate Milligan, who offered to waive her and her company’s fee.

Ultimately they found a sympathetic buyer in Mr. Robert, a developer who said he is dedicated to restoring and preserving as much of the original building material as possible.

“When the contract was signed, he came right over to the Rogers Mansion to see how we restored that,” said Mr. Edmonds. “He just loves history. We were very impressed.” Mr. Robert even brought the museum a horse-drawn sled that they had wanted but could not remove from the White House attic.

Construction on the nearly 1-acre property is already under way. The house, which will remain a single residence, has been lifted off the ground and propped up on beams while the foundation is restored. The agreement with the museum allowed Mr. Robert to add a detached garage and a pool house, along with a pool. There will also be an English garden. “I allowed a covenant to be written into the deed for perpetuity that 2,000 square feet of the entire property could be covered by other structures, and I did that with the garage and cabana so that no other structures can be built there,” Mr. Robert explained. “My final product will be the most it can be developed.” He noted that if the property had fallen into commercial hands, village business zoning would have allowed for 70 percent lot coverage, “which is ridiculous.”

The home is expected to be complete by next spring, but Mr. Robert is undecided if he and his family will move in or if he will put it back on the market. “It’s 50-50,” he said.

Still, once complete, the house will honor a man’s legacy and serve as a symbol for those who fight to preserve Southampton’s history in the face of new development.

“It reminds us that Main Street was once lined with houses rather than commercial buildings, it keeps the White family’s history in Southampton Village alive, and collectively, along with so many other nearby historic structures, infuses our community with a unique, authentic, and un-reproducible historic character that we all value and associate with this place,” said Ms. Spanburgh.