This Mill gets a second wind

By Heather Bryce

The South Fork is dotted with numerous windmills attached to houses—alas, most of them are follies, cutesy facsimiles of the real thing. But in the case of Windmill House in Amagansett, the dwelling really is built in an old windmill that once pumped water to a long ago farm.

The listing, by Bobby Rosenbaum of Douglas Elliman, reads like a Victorian novel. “Look out over a forest-rimmed lawn oft-visited by deer and wild turkeys, a 100-year-old apple orchard and unimpeded views of The Quail Hill farm fields…windswept by the sea breezes…” Such romantic allusions make complete sense as the windmill upon which the property is named was built in the 19th century. And capturing those ocean breezes was crucial in order to spin the mill’s sails.

Fast forward to the 1950s when summer colonist Samuel Rubins, founder of then cosmetics behemoth Fabergé, converted the working windmill into a cozy house. Amazingly, a climb up a ladder to the top floor reveals that the workings of the mill are still intact…patiently awaiting a time when they might find themselves useful again.

Over the years the idiosyncratic abode has played host to a litany of arts giants including Kurt Vonnegut, Terence Stamp, Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller. Interior designer Tom Samet lived in the house a few years ago and decorated it to the nines, meriting a feature in Hamptons Cottages and Gardens in which he espoused that he has lived in other “unorthodox” dwellings including a teahouse, boathouse, greenhouse, barn, and chicken coop. But few had enchanted him like the windmill.

The tiny house—only 1,300 square feet—is accessed by a curving drive bordered by a century-old apple orchard. A rolling lawn rises to a higher elevation, limned by woods, which could be the location for a large house that would overlook distant ocean views and the windmill, which in today’s world is more appropriate as the guesthouse of a great estate.

The 5.45-acre property appears much larger as it abuts Quail Hill Farm, a 40-acre agricultural gem that grows dozens of kinds of produce (Think: garlic-scented breezes) and keeps bees and chickens. Indeed, artist Amelina Siekluska, who rented the windmill for two years, admits she would borrow eggs from their cages on the occasional morning. Living there, she says, was “magical, Alice in Wonderland. You wake up to cockle-doodle-do and deer feeding on the lawn—all you see is Mother Nature, trees, wildlife, hawks. My art and heart flourished while I was here.”

Though the property, which also includes an artist’s studio and two-car garage, has been on the market for a couple of years, the owner raised the asking price to $8.5 million in August ($55,000 for summer rental, $65,000 year round). The decision, according to Rosenbaum, was based on “recent brisk market conditions on luxury trophy properties.” He envisions a celebrity buyer who appreciates the property’s seclusion and who has “an affinity to the memory of Marilyn Monroe,” someone like Lindsay Lohan or Elton John.”

While the price may seem high for a north of the highway location, the property is a conduit back to the past, a glorious reminder of what the Hamptons once were. As designer Samet says of it, “Some places just stay with you.”