A South End stairway to heaven
After touring the condo at the top floor of 411 Shawmut Ave. in the South End, you might sense something is missing but you can't figure out what it is.
It's the hallways. And that's OK, because instead of wasting space on corridors, the place is built around a spine of spiraling wooden stairs that extend four flights up to a cupola.
“You've never seen anything quite like it,” said Ken Fraser, who moved into unit No. 8 about four years ago with his wife, Joana, and is now selling the place for $1,275,000. “We just walked into it and frankly just fell in love with it. I think the architecture is clearly pretty stunning.”
Built around the towering staircase, the condo feels far more spacious and airy than its 1,784 square feet would normally allow.
It all starts at the fourth floor of an old, 19th century brick rowhouse, where the white living room and contemporary kitchen — with custom, coffee-colored Italian cabinetry and snowy Caesarstone countertops — invite you to linger around. Until, that is, you spot the mouth of the staircase, which draws you up.
At the second level are the two modern, carpeted bedrooms, each of which could qualify as a master. Both have their own bathrooms and both have ceilings that angle upward in a display of geometric creativity, making the rooms feel bigger than they are. One offers a large, newly renovated bathroom and bay windows overlooking the South End, while the other gives access to a shared deck offering a spectacular view of the Prudential Tower and other Back Bay buildings.
“You wake up in the morning with sun coming up,” said Fraser of the bedroom facing the South End, “and in the evening you see the sun hitting the deck.”
Up one more flight and you're in an office that features a walk-in closet. And finally, up to the fourth level is the cupola that feels like a virtual lookout tower in the middle of Boston, complete with eight windows and 360-degree views.
“It's a vantage point that you don't have anywhere else in the city,” said Fraser, who's originally from Scotland. “One of our favorite things is in the winter to sit out there and watch the snow fall.”
Fraser, a management consultant, and his wife, a pediatrician, had the windows replaced, copper cladding installed on the cupola, and the largest of the three total bathrooms renovated. The kitchen, said Fraser, needed no work, because it was renovated just before they moved in.
Despite the great views from the top and the four levels of living space, Fraser said, the “vast majority” of the couple's time is spent on the first floor of the condo, in the living area with the woodburning fireplace and kitchen.
“We think of this like a duplex apartment,” he said, “with a couple of cherries on top.”
For more information on the condo, which just cut its price from $1.439 million, call the Steven Cohen Team at 617-861-3636.