RED GATE FARM
MARTHA’S VINEYARD, US This New England bolthole belonging to one of history’s most stylish first ladies is currently up for sale
Nestled on a 1.6-kilometre stretch of Atlantic Ocean beachfront, Red Gate Farm has acted as a summer home and refuge for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, her children and her grandchildren, for the past four decades. The former sheep farm was home to only a small hunting cabin when it was acquired by Onassis in 1979, for a reported $1 million (Dh3.6m).
The private oceanfront retreat, which covers 137.6 hectares on the edge of Squibnocket Pond in Martha’s Vineyard, allowed the fashionable first lady to spend time close to nature, her family and friends, and also her beloved books. It was one of the first homes that she was able to completely build and design herself. Having been lovingly preserved for 40 years, it is now on the market for $65m with Christie’s International Real Estate.
The property’s landscape was designed by Onassis’s close friend, Bunny Mellon, who had redesigned the White House Rose Garden while Onassis was first lady of the US. Architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen designed the Cape Cod-style main house and two-storey guest house, which were completed in 1981.
In 2000, Onassis’s daughter, Caroline Kennedy, commissioned Deborah Berke, dean of the Yale School of Architecture, to renovate and expand the main residence, a 6,456-square-foot cedar-shingled abode ideal for entertaining. Except for the dining room, all rooms in the main residence overlook the Atlantic Ocean. The main level is home to a formal sitting room with fireplace, drawing room, living room, family room, library, dining room and an expansive kitchen equipped with professional-grade appliances. Two decks look out over the sand dunes and the sea, providing an ideal spot for al fresco dining.
Four en-suite bedrooms are located on the property’s upper level, including a master suite with a dressing room. A smaller bedroom on the lower level is ideal for guests or staff, or can be converted into a study. Other facilities include a den, two offices or art studios, two powder rooms, three fireplaces, a laundry room and a basement. The guest house, part of Jacobson’s original design, has four bedrooms and three bathrooms, a living room, kitchen and laundry room.
The property’s expansive grounds feature two freshwater ponds, a vegetable garden and blueberry patch, an outdoor pool and tennis court, as well as a “fairy tree house” that Onassis commissioned for her grandchildren. She was also known to host an annual Labour Day picnic on the grounds. The original hunting cabin is still in situ, but has been joined by a caretaker’s house, a barn, two garages (one with a two-bedroom apartment), a temperature-controlled storage building and a boathouse.
Selina Denman