Residential
1834 Nantucket Sea Captain's Home Lists at $32 Million on Main Street
By Real Estate Wire Staff, . Real Estate Wire.
The George C. Gardner House at 141 Main Street, Nantucket, has listed for $32 million, Realtor.com News reported. The clapboard Greek Revival home was built around 1834 for sea captain George Gardner, a descendant of one of the island's early English settlers, and has been through two documented restoration campaigns since falling into disrepair in the early twentieth century.
The property's history is layered enough to matter to a buyer at this price. According to Realtor.com News, the house was originally built as a secondary structure after Gardner demoted the family homestead to a carriage house. By the 1920s it had deteriorated, at which point a buyer named Gladys Wood purchased it, relocated it to its current Main Street address, and hired architect Alfred Shurrocks to restore it. Shurrocks was then working on the Jethro Coffin House, described by Realtor.com News as the island's oldest house.
The second restoration came in the early 2000s, when new owners engaged Joseph Pell Lombardi, a New York preservation specialist whose prior work included Liberty Tower and the Armour-Stiner Octagon House. Lombardi produced specifications covering both the exterior and interior. That work wrapped in 2005, and the house subsequently sold for $9.5 million, according to Realtor.com News.
The current asking price of $32 million represents a more than threefold increase over that 2005 sale figure, which is a useful data point for anyone tracking high-end Nantucket appreciation over two decades, though the two transactions are not directly comparable given the intervening restoration work and any subsequent improvements.
The property sits on 0.56 acres and includes a main house with four en suite bedrooms, a primary suite occupying the entire third floor with an office and a deck, and a three-bedroom guest cottage. Interior features documented by Realtor.com News include the original turned staircase, fireplaces in the parlor, library and dining room, a sunroom, and a double staircase leading to the garden. The pool has been relocated to the rear of the lot. The property also benefits from adjacency to a privately held, unbuildable parcel, which effectively protects the garden views.
Nantucket's historic district covers the entire island and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Realtor.com News notes the district contains more than 800 pre-Civil War buildings. That designation constrains what can be built or altered, which is simultaneously what makes the island's best-preserved properties valuable and what limits the supply of comparable listings. A buyer at $32 million is not just purchasing a house; they are purchasing one of a finite number of fully restored antique properties in a district where the regulatory environment makes replication essentially impossible.
No listing broker was identified in the Realtor.com News report, and no other trade outlets appear to have covered this listing at the time of publication. The $9.5 million 2005 sale is the only prior transaction figure available. What is not established is the current ownership structure, any financing details, or how long the property has been on the market.
Source: https://www.realtor.com/news/unique-homes/1835-greek-revival-nantucket-for-sale/