Step In To History
PROPERTY PROFILE Windwalker Real Estate $4,350,000
Main Street on Nantucket has two distinct districts. On the one hand, there is the bustling commercial portion with its wide cobblestone streets, plentiful vehicles, street entertainers and merchants selling local fare, vibrant shops, wide-open vistas and throngs of visitors drinking in the Nantucket experience. But there's another Main Street. One where the cobble stones narrow and are lined by stately homes - some seasonal, and some occupied yearround. Here, the trees are older and thicker and filter the summer sunlight to a dappled golden hue. This Main Street is quieter, more elegant, more refined. And yet, it is just a few steps away from the part of the street most people picture when they hear the words, "Main Street, Nantucket."

Past the Pacific National Bank on the right and Murray's Toggery Shop on the left, Main Street changes, and a few steps along this transformed way one finds the inn that currently occupies the former ship's captain's home at 76 Main Street. Built as a home in 1883 by William Swain of Nantucket, a wealthy whaling ship captain, the address is as noble and prestigious now as it was then.

The exterior of the building can only be described as "stately." Its mansard roof is partially hidden by a white parapet which features inset, hand-turned newels that provide just a glimpse of the third floor windows from the street. The prop- erty's façade, unlike the majority of homes on the island, is hand-hewn, tongue-and-groove clapboard made from unusually wide boards. The effect of this treatment is that the surface of the building is composed of horizontal stripes which are at their most obvious when the mid-day sun is high in the sky. The deep, black-shuttered windows with their (also unusual) two-over-two light panes, serve to break-up the horizontal lines. The result is a home that, from the street, feels strong and permanent, as if it were carved from solid granite.

As one steps though the front door of this dignified, historic home, the significance of this property becomes even more apparent. Here, one finds handcarved woodwork and plaster moldings in the ornate Victorian style. The floors are made of maple, stained in two tones to produce a severe and dramatic effect. Even the wallpaper is a wonderful, hand-screened Victorian pattern that would have been commonplace over 150 years ago. Clearly, stepping into the foyer is like stepping into a different era.

Also on the first floor, you'll find an ample office and a small kitchen with a seating area for breakfast. Steps beyond, there is a wonderful patio - an ideal spot to take one's coffee on a warm summer morning.

On the first, second and third floors of the main house there are 14 guest rooms. The annex, to the rear of the property, offers an additional six bedrooms. Each of these rooms is different from the next, although they each share a distinct similarity - they each feature their own full bath.

In addition to the guest rooms, there is a large and rather functional basement which currently houses a commercial laundry room as well as plenty of storage.

As an inn, we are told this property enjoyed its most successful year ever in 2006, and it would be logical to continue operating it as a hospitality property.

On the other hand, the twelve thousand square-foot lot also would lend itself to conversion to the finest of intown estates, with plenty of space for a swimming pool and other amenities. In short, the prospective purchaser has options.

This exquisite, well maintained, turnkey inn, with 20 bedrooms and 22 baths, plenty of historic charm and lots of potential, just steps from Nantucket's downtown commercial district, is

offered at $4,350,000.00. I