Ann Chernow is honoring Westport’s heritage by displaying a Westport Historical Society plaque identifying her home at 2 Gorham Ave. as being designed by architect Frazier Peters and built in 1933. Nicola Geremia purchased the property from Gault and Bradley and commissioned Peters to design and build the house. In 1970, Chernow and her late husband Burt purchased the property which in 2007 became part of the Gorham Avenue Historic District. Ann is a well known national and international artist while Burt Chernow was well known as an art historian, educator and writer and a champion in Westport for exploring new ways to improve the environment for area artists and nonprofit arts groups. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Bob Weingarten for WestportNow.com

A Westport couple’s “dream home” on Compo Mill Cove that took four years to build—and that needed a landing craft to ferry materials to the building site accessible only by a footbridge—has sold for $6 million.
“Sandbar” at 46 Compo Mill Cove had been listed for $9.9 million in 2009. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

The four-bedroom, seven-bath, waterfront property at 46 Compo Mill Cove known as “Sandbar” completed in 2008, changed hands on Friday. It had been listed in 2009 for $9.9 million and in January was on the market for $7.8 million. The sale is among the highest ever paid for a Compo area home.

The transfer recorded in the Town Clerk’s office listed Frederic W. Levin and Wende A. Cohen as the sellers. The buyer was listed as Summer & Spring LLC, a limited liability company that was created Jan. 31 with Yixia Si and Yuchun Chang as principals, according to the Secretary of the State’s database.

Cohen, who owned Bungalow, a French antique and gift store in Westport’s Sconset Square for 14 years, promoted sale of the property in a 2009 video aired on a New York television station.

By James Lomuscio

A Sunday New York Times real estate article titled “Vintage Homes Lose Appeal” has struck a sour note with Westport preservationists.
Maggie Feczko, chair of the Westport Historic District Commission, cited 101 Clapboard Hill Road as an example of a vintage home saved and called its owner a hero of historic preservation. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

The story, which focuses heavily on the Westport real estate market, not only likens vintage homes to buying a used car. It quotes one local real estate agent as saying people have lost “respect” for history when it comes to the luxury market.

Dorothy E. Curran, president of the Westport Historical Society and a Realtor, said the report is “so out of balance, I think it’s absurd. It’s not substantiated by the inventory and the patterns.”

“The houses that are truly historic were not built on a grand scale particularly,” she added. “They were built in other times for other purposes. Until early in the 20th century, Westport was a farming and maritime community.”