By Sheila Stoltz, Associate Broker, Houlihan Lawrence, and Staff     

Sep. 28, 2016:  The highest-priced house ever to go on the Bronxville Village real estate market has just been listed.  “Oakledge,” located at 5 Oakledge Road in Bronxville, has just come on the market for $13,750,000.  Sheila Stoltz of Houlihan Lawrence, an associate broker, is the listing agent for Oakledge. 

The home was first built by Bronxville magnate John Masterton in 1870. It is a stone English Manor, over 11,000 square feet, and has six bedrooms, six full bathrooms, three hand-crafted fireplaces, and a 2,500-square-foot lower level. The house is situated on almost two acres of private property.

Oakledge and its original 19 acres were conveyed to David Legget in 1889. As the result of a fire, it was redesigned in 1925 by Bronxville architect Lewis Bowman. He totally recrafted the roof line, added dormers, and created the Tudor style he loved so much and for which he became so well known.

Bowman added wings to the north and south sides, designed the receiving hall, and added classic architectural details, including vaulted and tracery ceilings, linen fold paneling, leaded stained-glass windows, detailed millwork, one-of-a-kind stone fireplaces, rich hardwood floors, and eleven-foot ceilings that remain today. 

For many years, Oakledge was also a farm with cows grazing and children sledding down the sloping hill from the house. By1940, the house had been donated to the Bronxville chapter of the American Red Cross, and for the duration of World War II the hill was called “Red Cross Hill.” The morning after the attack on Pearl Harbor, one hundred women gathered at Oakledge to make surgical dressings for the wounded.

In 1952, Mrs. Purdy, who owned the property, kept Oakledge and almost two acres atop the hill as she began selling off parcels for single-family homes.

The most recent owners of Oakledge purchased Oakledge in 2007 for $10,500,000. Thus began another major renovation by acclaimed architect Boris Baranovich and New York designer Steven Gambrel. Much of the remarkable detailing was restored.

Said Sheila Stoltz, who now begins the process of overseeing the sale of the home, “I am excited to be marketing for sale a home with such a unique provenance and architectural history.”

Pictured here:  The Oakledge house at 5 Oakledge Road in Bronxville.

Photo courtesy Sheila Stoltz, Associate Broker, Houlihan Lawrence