The most expensive listing in Boston, the $13.95 million six-level townhouse at 74 Beacon St., was renovated to reflect the look of a Victorian-era Back Bay townhouse, but one tradition, the basement kitchen, didn't make the cut.
The mansion has just been put back on the market after the kitchen was moved from the basement to the first floor.
"It was a major reason why this property wasn't selling," said Tracy Campion, Boston's top broker in sales volume ($272 million last year), who has been brought on as a co-exclusive listing agent along with Brad Sprogis and John Neale, who originally brought the building to developer Peter Georgantas of Peg Properties & Design.
"Buyers want an open feel with the kitchen, living and dining areas on one floor," said Sprogis. "You're really seeing a move to a less formal style of living even at this level."
The new first-floor kitchen, with white macoubas quartzite counters and island, a La Cornue stove and custom Scandia cabinets, overlooks a private patio.
Transforming the 1828 gray granite townhouse overlooking the Public Garden into a single-family has been a lengthy process. Georgantas bought the property in 2007 when it was four apartments and it took three years to renovate it.
"We wanted it to feel like a historic single-family in Back Bay," said Georgantas, whose wife and business partner, Elizabeth, co-designed the interiors. "But it had to be crisp, clean and bright rather than overbearing, stuffy and Victorian."
A large, bright open living/dining area has quarter-sewn oak floors and custom white woodwork. The grand staircase, modeled after The Breakers in Newport, R.I., connects all 8,450 square feet of living space, plus there's a wood-lined elevator.
The fourth floor is made for entertaining, with a large media room/ballroom that opens onto a rear roof deck with views of Beacon Hill. And there's an oak-lined library, complete with a custom rolling ladder for the bookcases.
The sixth-floor rooftop deck overlooks the Public Garden, with an infinity edge lap pool.
The sumptuous master suite has silk wall coverings, custom dressing rooms and closets and a master bathroom with a clawfoot tub and an enormous glass steam shower.
There are five other bedroom suites and an additional five full and three half bathrooms, plus a private gym and a family room in the basement that opens to a private patio.
The home comes with a deeded garage space at the toney Brimmer Street Garage, along with a parking space behind the house.
After completion in 2010, the home didn't sell, so it was rented for $40,000 to $60,000 a month. But given the superheated luxury market, Georgantas said he now feels optimistic.
"Someone can buy this property that offers a sense of history as well as privacy," he said. "Or they can spend the money on a top-tier condo unit without much character that feels like a hotel."
