Inn Style
PROPERTY PROFILE Jordan Real Estate $2,850,000
Like many inns on Nantucket, the Sherburne Inn at 10 Gay Street was not always a guest house. In fact, when it was built in 1835 it was the original home of the Atlantic Silk Company. Thirty seven years later this gracious structure at the top of Gay Street became a guest house and it has been taking in lodgers ever since. Of course the new owners of the inn can continue to run the business, or they can convert this very elegant dwelling into a private home. Either way, there are dozens of exceptional original features that add to the charm and value of this historic structure.

Like any structure of its era, the house at 10 Gay Street features an elevated foundation and a walk-up front porch. These eight steps up provide the home with plenty of light on all three levels. As you enter the front doorway, you are greeted by a grand Victorian foyer complete with a sweeping, curved stairway and an ornate pendant light fixture which is suspended above the space. To your left is the first of eight guest rooms, each with its own private bath. Straight ahead you'll find the first of two parlors. This room features rich, red, textured wallpaper, gloriously high ceilings and plenty of afternoon sunlight. Here you'll find a welcoming fireplace where breakfast is often served on those mornings when enjoying coffee and continental breakfast on the side patio is not possible due to the weather.

As you venture further back to the rear of the home's main floor, you encounter more guest rooms, some of which feature fireplaces. Each is charmingly decorated in rich Victorian colors and with antique, four-poster or canopy beds. The rooms on the south and east facing side receive wonderful, warm, morning sunlight. Each room is quiet and peaceful, despite being in town, because the Sherburne Inn is tucked away from the more active areas of the Old Historic District.

Climbing the back stairway leads you to additional guest rooms and the second parlor. This parlor is like its twin on the main floor, except instead of red, the color scheme here is cool blues and greens. The fireplace here is more ornate, featuring a pair of flanking pillars supporting a dramatic mantle with three raised panels.

On the second floor at the top of the main stairway's landing is a small alcove where the current proprietors have set up a computer station for checking email or surfing the web. This area would also make a lovely reading/study space or an additional sitting area.

No tour of this structure would be complete, however, without a trip to the garden level. One can enter via a little stairway on the main level, or through the official proprietor's or manager's entrance. Here you'll find a cozy manager's living space with a good-sized bedroom, and a front sitting

room which looks out over the comings and goings of quiet Gay Street. The kitchen is wellappointed and features a massive brick hearth which was likely where meals for guests had previously been cooked.

This historic nine-bedroom, nine-bath inn/home, in the highly desirable Old Historic District, with a wonderful sunny garden space, several fireplaces and a number of well-preserved original details is offered at $2,850,000.

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