Truman Capote’s Sagaponack Home on the Market for $14.6 Million

Irina Aleksander — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:57:59 -0400

The saltbox home in the Hamptons commissioned by author Truman Capote in 1961 has gone on the market for $14.6 million, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Mr. Capote resided in the Sagaponack home, which sits on four acres near the beach, for 23 years prior to his death in 1984. He bequeathed the property to his partner, Jack Dunphy. When Mr. Dunphy died in 1992, the house was passed on to the Nature Conservancy, which then sold it to artist Ross Bleckner in 1993 for $800,000.

According to a profile of the home published in Dan's Hamptons in August, Mr. Capote moved into the house shortly after the release of the film version of Breakfast at Tiffany's and spent much of his time there writing in the mornings (he completed In Cold Blood there). He would venture into town around lunchtime, run errands, and often drive over to historian Robert Keene's bookstore and then to Gloria Vanderbilt's residence to take a swim in her pool—whether or not she was home at the time.

In the evenings, Mr. Capote was a familiar face on the Hamptons social scene, attending parties and spending time with friends in the area such as Ms. Vanderbilt, socialite Lee Radziwill, and former Interview magazine editor Bob Colacello.

Gerald Clarke, the executor of Mr. Capote's estate, told Dan's Hamptons:

"Of course Truman was invited out, but he also used this home as a retreat. Truman would wander around in shorts and not cater to anyone in particular; he loved it because it was not Manhattan. It was not a pretentious sort of place. You could hear the roar of the ocean, 200 yards away, from the screened-in porch. There was a different sort of society out here then. And it was so much quieter. Who's out here now? Rock stars, movie stars... It's a publicity society. Who knows? If he were still alive today, he might have been at the center of P. Diddy's latest party, making little asides...taking it all in."

According to Mr. Clarke, the author decorated the two-story home himself, with wicker furniture in the study, blue boat-deck paint on the floors, and a stark bedroom with a simple bed and table.

"For me it's a bore to use a decorator...I just don't care to have someone come in and tell me what I need to live with. I know," Mr. Capote once said.

Mr. Bleckner restored the home, enlarged the main house to 2,000 square feet and added a 1,900 square-foot studio, a two-bedroom guesthouse, an outdoor pool and garage.

The listing agent for the property is Rylan Jacka of Sotheby's International Realty.

Observer » Truman Capote’s Sagaponack Home on the Market for $14.6 Million

Truman Capote’s Sagaponack Home on the Market for $14.6 Million