Seaside 'modesty'
Sandanwede brought summer living to the Jetties
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER
Size and function are relative considerations when it comes to houses on

Nantucket. Whereas one person

may deem the singlestory, rustic cottages of Codfish Park as defining "modest" island architecture, that is also the way Edwin J. Hulbert viewed his Sandanwede, the first summer home built in the Jetties area in 1881.

Hulbert's "modest" Victorian-style dwelling at 73 Hulbert Ave., with its multiple chimneys, ornate wrap-around porch and, later, with its gazebo, pool and tennis court, passed through many owners and since 1975, has belonged to J. Seward Johnson, Jr., of the Johnson & Johnson medical supply company family. Listed as individually significant on the National Register of historic buildings, Sandanwede is considered a rare and exceptional example of large summer cottages built at the end of the 19th century that are still standing and occupied, according to a 1969 Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) on file at the Nantucket Historical Association research library.

In the mid-1800s, the stretch of land between Brant Point and the Cliff was barren. In 1872, Henry Coleman, Charles Mooers and Elijah Alley purchased 40 acres of that shoreline tract from George Easton for $500. The land, from what is called Beachside to Easton Street, is now some of the island's most valuable waterfront property. In 1880, Edwin J. and Frances C. Hulbert of Middletown, Conn., and for whom the avenue was named, bought a 200- square-foot portion of Beachside from the three investors, a corner piece located between what was then called Bay Avenue and Dix Street. Records indicate that Bay Avenue was originally between the Hulbert's cottage and the harbor but later was incorporated into the property to extend it to the water's edge.

Sandanwede, pictured above as it looks today, is an elegant harborfront summer home on Hulbert Avenue built in 1881 by Edwin J. Hulbert. The house has gone through architectural changes since Hulbert's original design (right) which he considered a "modest" cottage.

Just three days after Hulbert's purchase he conveyed the property to trustees James Thayer and Lemuel Shaw, the latter of whom was a western Massachusetts circuit judge who sat occasionally in Nantucket's court and was also Herman Melville's father-inlaw. The following year, Hulbert, who founded and ran the Calumet and Hecla Copper Mine in Houghton County, Mich., had his modest summer cottage built by island carpenters.

COURTESY OF THE NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

According to a statement by his grandson, Allen S. Hulbert, who was granted the property's deed by the trustees in 1911, he believed his grandfather "probably indulged himself in drawing plans for construction by Nantucketers, a monument to their excellence as I feel the house is as structurally sound as the day it was built." Documents do not name an architect. Though no date is given in the building survey, Edwin Hulbert's mining company was the subject of a lawsuit that prompted him to take up residence in Rome, Italy, where he lived until his death.

In 1914, Allen Hulbert deeded the house, which then was about two-thirds its current size and had two chimneys rather than three, to Mary Allen Hulbert. A succession of owners appear next, with Mary Gould Luther buying the real estate from Hulbert in 1916, followed by Carl F. Stiefel's purchase in 1920. Two months later, Stiefel deeded the parcel to his wife, Antonie L. Philippine Stiefel, who in 1923 passed ownership to her daughter, Elsa B. Thorling. In 1926, the property was registered with the state Land Court and in 1934 was deeded by Thorling to her brother Walter A. Stiefel. As of 1969, the property was owned by Stiefel's wife, who inherited what is now addressed as 73 Hulbert Ave.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION Edwin J. Hulbert (right) deeded his summer house Sandanwede (above) to his grandson, Allen, in 1914, after a lawsuit against the elder Hulbert's Michigan mining company drove him to move to Italy, where he remained until his death. Sandanwede was the first summer cottage built in the Jetties area known as Beachside.

Prior to Allen Hulbert's ownership, the home's eastern and western sections and a chimney were added at about the same time bathrooms were installed. Hulbert built additions to the south and west in 1911. Little else changed, other than building on an extra first-floor bedroom on the south side.

As of 1969, the interior features of Sandanwede included a ground floor wine cellar, service, work and storage areas and a kitchen. At that time, the first floor contained a parlor, sitting room, owners' suite, dining room and kitchen. The second floor held five bedrooms, three bathrooms and several storage and service rooms connected by a central hallway. There were fireplaces in the living, dining and sitting rooms.

Though not mentioned in the HABS record, a Mrs. Peck is named as a subsequent owner of Sandanwede in a 1989 document on the house prepared by the Historic District Commission in a Nantucket Island Architectural and Cultural Resources Survey. It is not clear when she owned the house or whether Mrs. Peck made changes to it. However, she is said to have been a close friend of President Woodrow Wilson, who was her frequent guest.

Major change came in 1975 with the Johnson purchase of the property. The house was moved 200 feet closer to the water and reduced to its original size. The Johnsons added a recreation space beneath the main floor yet retained the home's same elevation, and they removed some second story floors to create a dramatic two-and-one-half level living room. They also built a garage with an upstairs apartment, likely used as servant's quarters, and put in the pool, the tennis court and gazebo on the Hulbert Avenue side of the yard.

To the left of Sandanwede, there is a narrow shell way that is actually public access to the beach. At the head of the path, one can get a glimpse of the home's wide and impressive decorative veranda that faces Hulbert Avenue. The sight easily lends itself to daydreams of hot summer afternoons passed beneath the porch's shade, perhaps sipping iced mint tea while enjoying the leisurely pleasure a

"modest" seaside cottage can provide. I